Re: 5000s Serious Steering Rack Leak

[Vaughn Adams <vadams@mbusa.net>]

Alex

I had a leaky rack on my '84 5ks (real bad) cause the previous owner
took the car to a butcher shop for repairs. They installed a bone yard
rack and then filled it up with ATF. This is one of the reasons I got
the car so cheap. I decided to give it a shot since I make a living
fixing cars and couldn't bear the thought of having someone else do it
for me. (Damn pride and poverty) I've done the R&R with power racks
before but never a rebuild (actually a reseal). 

But that's all it needed. Really dirty inside. Just cleaned everything
up and installed seals from a $40.00 kit. Used LubeGuard power steering
fluid without trouble for about 4 years now. A myriad of snake oils
abound, but I'm sold on their products after a little research and
besides, when I called the company to see if they had anything for Audi
power systems, I got the president who sent me a case (on the house) to
try it out. My high pressure hose has a slight leak (preexisting) and
I'll have to deal with it soon. I'm hoping I can just have a
professional hose shop redo it for me. (I'm the original Bottom Feeder).

If you can R&R the rack, I think you can clean it up and reseal it. Just
check the bore and make sure there is no excessive wear/scoring in
critical areas. If it looks iffy, there are some quality reman racks out
there with a lifetime warranty (stainless sleeved). 

Good Luck
God Speed
Vaughn 
'84 5ks (new 30" glass pac resonator, straight through glass pac style
muffler and new chrome tip-look out! Noisy, but I'm sure I lost 10
degrees underhood/operating temp. and picked up a few ponies at freeway
speeds. Baffled muffler coming soon.)
-- 
MZ