Oil Leak in footwell, THE LATEST

["Peter K. Wong" <pkw@planet.eon.net>]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the info.  I cannot say for sure why the diagnosis was for
the steering pump.

Essentially what happened is that when I noticed the problem, the carpets
were already soaked with the stuff and it had leaked past the front seat
and into the rear passenger footwell.  Being that the leak was underneath
the floor mats which are in turn underneath a rubber winter mat, I didn't
notice it until the foul odor started to drive me nuts.

I didn't have any luck getting into the local Audi dealership and so I
fired off an email to this newsgroup thinking that I probably couldn't get
a mechanic to look at it under after the Christmas holidays.  Well turns
out they found some time for me and I drove it in for a look-see.  Took
about an hour and this was the diagnosis that they came back with.

I honestly haven't a clue where the steering pump is on my Audi 90.  The
mechanic did say in his report that the "leak in driver's side footwell
traced back to steering pump, also cause of moaning noise heard by customer".

I'm not sure how close the pump is to the firewall, I can tell you that my
steering rack was resealed in February by the Audi dealership.  I can also
tell you that the steering pump was replaced in January of 1994.
Unfortunately without a Bentley manual I really don't know how accurate
this diagnosis is.  Does anyone have a manual for the 90?  Is the
mechanic's diagnosis correct?  The part is arriving next Tuesday and I'm
suppose to bring it in then to get it installed. 

On another note, any ideal how to was this stuff out of the carpets.  Steam
cleaning seems to just smear it around the carpeting.

Peter