pump is toast

[Mike Arman <armanmik@n-jcenter.com>]

>>
>Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 01:04:32 -0500
>From: Ron Mruss <rmruss@pangea.ca>
>Subject: pump is toast (was:  intermittent stalling)
>
>Sadly, I can now confirm that, as Mike Arman stated in his post =
>recently, the volcano syndrome is indeed a sign of a pump about to fail. =


Would I lie to you? Have I ever lied to you? Y'all don't need a lawyer,
son, A'hm your friend . . . <G>



> I started up the car today, backed out of the driveway, and thought, =
>"hmmm the brakes seem soft today".  Drove 10 metres down the street, =
>applied the brakes just to check, NO power assist, and steering was very =
>heavy.  Turned around, went back home, checked fluids, everything OK.  I =
>have therefore concluded my pump is bad and needs a rebuild.  If I'm =
>wrong, please tell me, but otherwise, next week will see the =
>installation of a rebuilt rack from Jorgen and the rebuilding of the =
>pump.  Speaking of which, the dealer wants aprox. $50 CDN for the pump =
>rebuild kit.  Is this reasonable?  Anyone else have a better (read:  =
>cheaper) Canadian source for the kit and/or hydraulic fluid, (as the =
>dealer wants $31 CDN for a litter of fluid)?


$50 CDN sounds about right (maybe just a little high) for the rebuild kit -
have you tried aftermarket foreign car parts stores as opposed to
Authori$ed Audi Dealer$?

You have two tasks here - rebuild the pump and replace the rack. The pump
is more of a job than changing the thermostat in a Rabbit (see below), but
at least you can do this inside, standing up at a bench. I'd suggest you do
this FIRST - complete it, and drive the car around for a week or so. That
will tell you a couple of things - one, that YOU can do this kind of stuff,
two, that YOU can fix your car, and three, that it isn't exactly rocket
science. 

Don't attempt to do both these jobs at the same time. The rack is a lot
more work, takes longer and requires considerably more physical effort and
contortions, as well as an assistant and some big, heavy, ugly pullers (for
the tie rod ends), jack stands, etc. Having said that, it can be done in
3-4 hours, first time, but DON'T rush this as it is kind of a jigsaw puzzle
and can be very frustrating if you need to finish up by X O'clock because
your favorite show is on TV . . .

Another reason not to do both at once is that is is easy to become
overwhelmed by all those parts scattered everywhere, and just give up, drag
it all to a mechanic and have to take out a second mortgage to pay to have
him put it all back together again.


The Jorgen rack is, in my opinion, the ONLY choice for this. Rare to see
"Best" and "Cheapest" in the same item, but here it is.

Procedures for both pump rebuild and rack replacement in archives - if you
can't find 'em, I have them somewhere . . .


Incidentally, heavy steering effort is usually NOT the rack - reason for
rack replacement is leaks. If the rack isn't leaking, and you rebuild the
pump, you may find that you don't need the rack!



>
>Additionally, I will have a Bentley before I attempt this, but is this =
>the sort of thing I can do without having attempted anything beyond a =
>thermostat change in a Rabbit in the past?  I would much rather take the =
>time to do this than pay a mechanic, but don't want to make the problem =
>worse.  Thoughts?
>

Best Regards,

Mike Arman