Hydraulic system seals

[SAJanesick - Bellsouth]

Tony, Bernie, Alan, et.al., 

O.K. I'm convinced to give it a go.  What the heck as the worst case is I could always send it off to be rebuilt if I botched the job.

I actually have a fair set of tools, a garage and perhaps most importantly, and identical spare car (which has already offered up its hydraulic pump to keep me on the road).  Besides it sounds like if I do a good, careful job, it should be at least as good as the rebuilders.

I'll let you know how things work out.  It probably won't be until after the 1st that I get to it.  Too much end of year madness in the computer business to attempt right now.  Also I'll need to order the parts.  It appears that autohausAZ has a Power Steering Pump Seal Kit for $7.87 http://www.autohausaz.com/search/product.aspx?sid=ps3vqamfdr35tm455rzy0x45&makeid=800002@Audi&modelid=1007277@200%20QUATTRO%20TURBO&year=1991&cid=26@Steering%20System&gid=7407@Power%20Steering%20Pump%20Seal%20Kit 
Although it is listed under the 200 Quattro Turbo instead of the 20V, I believe it is the correct kit for the pump.  I'll check before ordering and I'll also check out SJM.  

Thank you all again for the information.  Rather astounding what we do to keep these few cars on the road.

Later...

                - Steve
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tony Hoffman 
  To: SAJanesick - Bellsouth 
  Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 4:03 PM
  Subject: Re: Hydraulic system seals


  Steve,

  I never tested it, just put it on the car and it worked. As others have mentioned, you just do the seals under the caps, and if you feel like it the front shaft seal, it's a bit more infvolved, I've only ever seen one leak (out of quite a number I've replaced on mine and customer cars. THe reason for the failure, they don't replace all of the orings when they are "rebuilt". IOW, you will do a better job than the rebuilders will. How else would they do it for so cheap? I've seen the rebuilt ones fail in 10k, BTW, I did mine, and had no issues for 80k. The car was parked at that point, but the engine is going into my track car, and I doubt I'll have any leaks even then.

  Either get a rebuild kit, or the o-rings as suggested by Bernie. And I use an air impact, but don't see why a hammer type impact will not work. That socket is available everywhere, basically a 1/2" drive super wide straight blade screwdriver type of bit.

  HTH,
  Tony


  On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:06 PM, SAJanesick - Bellsouth <sajanesick at bellsouth.net> wrote:

    Tony,

        Thanks for information about LARES and rebuilding.  

        I thought about rebuilding it myself, but I don't quite have to tools or expertise, or a way to bench test it to 2100 PSI.  You have given me another idea.  I can get it rebuilt from LARES for $150 or buy a Cardone rebuilt unit from RockAuto for about $165. Perhaps that's the better option.  Currently I've swapped the pump from my other car and was surprised to see that it was a rebuilt unit.  I bought the other car with 125K on it and never did anything to the pump.  It's now at 230K. I guess rebuilding lasts at least 100K.  Oddly the pump that failed only had 27K on it.  Perhaps it died from lack of use.

        Thanks again.

                        - Steve
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Tony Hoffman 
      To: SAJanesick - Bellsouth 
      Cc: 200q20v at audifans.com 
      Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 11:33 AM
      Subject: Re: Hydraulic system seals


      I'm pretty sure thats the company I sent my first one to. Though, it was about 8 years ago. We thougt they sounded good as well. Three months later, they had not touched it, and finally after some not so nice words from my wife they sent it back (it was for her V8). 

      I rebuilt it myself with a $12 kit, never had any other issues in 80k.

      The o-rings are available through Audi, they are green now. THey are pretty cheap, or at least were last time I bought any. I suspect they are made of teh same material as AC ones, which are also green. A company right by me has a HUGE selection of o-rings (they deal in gas well pumps) and most of theirs are brown, not too sure what it's made of. But, they hold up very well to anything I've thrown at them, including ATF and gasoline.

      Tony


      On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 10:01 AM, SAJanesick - Bellsouth <sajanesick at bellsouth.net> wrote:

        I recently lost a seal where the high pressure hose attaches to the hydraulic pump.  According to the VagCat board drawings, there appears to be different size seals depending on which hose is attached.  I've matched the size, but I am concerned about the O-Ring composition.  The seal that blew out was a reddish orange seal versus the darker brown seal that is used on the hose from the hydraulic reservoir.

        Since it was over the holidays, I just picked up a generic O-Ring assortment from Harbor Freight and indeed found the right size that seems to be sealing with no apparent leaks.  The O-Rings are black and package states that they are made of  Nitrile and resistant to oil, grease, etc.

        Does anyone have any experience of using black Nitrile O-Rings within the hydraulic hoses fittings?  I've been told that Audi often uses very specific O-Rings of different color and material for different applications.  I have not gone to the dealer yet, but I could still get by there today or tomorrow.  In the meantime, I travel with wrenches, O-Ring assortment, towels and as much Chf11s as I can get my hands on - just in case.

        Also, I'm looking at having the hydraulic pump rebuilt by LARES http://www.larescorp.com/index.html up in Minnesota.  From what I can tell, they look like they know what they are doing, but I thought I'd check to see  if anyone has any prior experience with them.