Power Steering Woes :(

Ripper · November 18, 2008

Oh well... the bulletproof toyota has been giving me a bit of a bad run lately...

firstly it was the ECU and the Delco/Distributor... then it was the AC cooler that developed a leak and needed replacement and now...it's my damn power steering rack

It all began after me going for my first set of wheels... the bulletproof toyota corolla, a sprinter...

Born 93 in Japan and junked to SL in 97...

I had a small leak in power steering fluid even when i bought the car 2 years ago but many told me just a top up would suffice and nothing bad would happen...

all was ok until recently the leak became a bit too much and top ups were way too frequent...

after noticing a torn rack end boot...thought of addressing the issue once and for all...

Last week i took it to a garage that's owned by a friends dad... and he said the busted boot has wasted my rack ends...

and also the rack was leaking so a rack repair kit was on the cards...

2 days and 25k later...got the car back... Ran good for few days and didn't bother to check the power steering fluid level expecting the problem was fixed

yesterday i found out it wasn't after noticing a tell tale oil patch on me garage floor...

with the aid of a four celled torch and some creative inspecting techniques... found out that the bloody rack is leaking oil yet again...

It has outdone itself and now leaking from both ends when previously it only leaked from the driver's side....

Now me garage fella is telling me to get a recon/used rack and come for a replacement

First few calls to used parts shops that i had numbers for didn't work since they didn't have it in stock... wanted to know rough pricings

In your opinion... what would be the best course of action?

should i try to fix the present rack? or go for a used one from delkanda area?

According to friends, used rack sellers will only take a return within a day or 2 if found to be faulty... and as far as i know...you really can't check the integrity of a rack from outside before fixing to the car and running it... and god knows when that things gonna go bust also

On repairing the present rack, i was told that the mechanic has bought a "rack repair kit" (HellRazor, i know what ya thinking but this aint that) and had done some lathe work...

so i dunno what more can be done to make the present one not leak... Now the mechanic is saying the main shafts must be worn and not the washers that he replaced...

Odd enough that except for the leak i didn't have any issues before... The oil was good in color without any metal flakes etc in it... So dunno how the shaft can go bad like that...

My guess is that either the "repair kit" was not the one for my model or the workmanship during assembly was bad...

Either way i'm not a happy camper

help!

The Don · November 18, 2008

Ripper said:
Oh well... the bulletproof toyota has been giving me a bit of a bad run lately...
firstly it was the ECU and the Delco/Distributor... then it was the AC cooler that developed a leak and needed replacement and now...it's my damn power steering rack

It all began after me going for my first set of wheels... the bulletproof toyota corolla, a sprinter...

Born 93 in Japan and junked to SL in 97...

I had a small leak in power steering fluid even when i bought the car 2 years ago but many told me just a top up would suffice and nothing bad would happen...

all was ok until recently the leak became a bit too much and top ups were way too frequent...

after noticing a torn rack end boot...thought of addressing the issue once and for all...

Last week i took it to a garage that's owned by a friends dad... and he said the busted boot has wasted my rack ends...

and also the rack was leaking so a rack repair kit was on the cards...

2 days and 25k later...got the car back... Ran good for few days and didn't bother to check the power steering fluid level expecting the problem was fixed

yesterday i found out it wasn't after noticing a tell tale oil patch on me garage floor...

with the aid of a four celled torch and some creative inspecting techniques... found out that the bloody rack is leaking oil yet again...

It has outdone itself and now leaking from both ends when previously it only leaked from the driver's side....

Now me garage fella is telling me to get a recon/used rack and come for a replacement

First few calls to used parts shops that i had numbers for didn't work since they didn't have it in stock... wanted to know rough pricings

In your opinion... what would be the best course of action?

should i try to fix the present rack? or go for a used one from delkanda area?

According to friends, used rack sellers will only take a return within a day or 2 if found to be faulty... and as far as i know...you really can't check the integrity of a rack from outside before fixing to the car and running it... and god knows when that things gonna go bust also

On repairing the present rack, i was told that the mechanic has bought a "rack repair kit" (HellRazor, i know what ya thinking but this aint that) and had done some lathe work...

so i dunno what more can be done to make the present one not leak... Now the mechanic is saying the main shafts must be worn and not the washers that he replaced...

Odd enough that except for the leak i didn't have any issues before... The oil was good in color without any metal flakes etc in it... So dunno how the shaft can go bad like that...

My guess is that either the "repair kit" was not the one for my model or the workmanship during assembly was bad...

Either way i'm not a happy camper

help!

My experience with steering racks Ripper is that if you need to do lathe work, it is always best to replaced with a used rack (and transfer the good or newly replaced from your old rack to the new one). This is because the lathe work generally does not last that long, and the craftsman ship is not generally up to standard. I just tend to replace whatever I can with 555 bits and when this proves to be possible try to source a used or a brand new replacement.

Sadly this probably should have been your first option and might have been cheaper too. The last time I checked on a power steering rack (10 years ago) they are going at 8500 in Delkanda

Ripper · November 18, 2008

The Don said:
My experience with steering racks Ripper is that if you need to do lathe work, it is always best to replaced with a used rack (and transfer the good or newly replaced from your old rack to the new one). This is because the lathe work generally does not last that long, and the craftsman ship is not generally up to standard. I just tend to replace whatever I can with 555 bits and when this proves to be possible try to source a used or a brand new replacement.
Sadly this probably should have been your first option and might have been cheaper too. The last time I checked on a power steering rack (10 years ago) they are going at 8500 in Delkanda

thanks Don

I'm gonna give it to the same guy to check it out again and source a used rack on the side...

I was told that fixing the present one with the repair kit was the best option... Had i known there was a chance of catastrophic failure like this i would've taken my chances with a used rack off an AE110 since the 100 and the 110 shares the same part and 110 would be a bit newer

The Don · November 18, 2008

Ripper said:
thanks Don
I'm gonna give it to the same guy to check it out again and source a used rack on the side...

I was told that fixing the present one with the repair kit was the best option... Had i known there was a chance of catastrophic failure like this i would've taken my chances with a used rack off an AE110 since the 100 and the 110 shares the same part and 110 would be a bit newer

I think the key phrase from your previous phrase is lathe work. A repair kit will solve most issue and is probably the preferred repair option, but if you require lathe work that means the problem was beyond a fix by a repair kit ! Your technician probably did not realise the extent of the problem till after he had used the repair kit on the rack ! ....... too late ....

if this guy doesn't work out, try Wasantha ! I'm sure he can manager something as simple as this,

Ripper · November 18, 2008

The Don said:
I think the key phrase from your previous phrase is lathe work. A repair kit will solve most issue and is probably the preferred repair option, but if you require lathe work that means the problem was beyond a fix by a repair kit ! Your technician probably did not realise the extent of the problem till after he had used the repair kit on the rack ! ....... too late ....
if this guy doesn't work out, try Wasantha ! I'm sure he can manager something as simple as this,

the only reason i gave this guy was that he take only one car at a time so i assumed the attention and response time was betterr...

since i didn't know much about racks and how to dis-assemble them he was saying that you gotta lathe it to fix it...

like you rightly said... most of the time mechanics use the bloody lathe in SL it's to jerry rig something that was not meant to work properly as it is... sometimes they work and in my experience most the times it doesn't..or fails after a whil

the problem was that i trusted him too much and he never told me properly about the lathe work...

had i even had a clue of a possibility like this... i would have gone for a used rack...

like you said... way too late now...

I was thinking of giving it to the same fella and get him to fix it for me since i have already paid the bugger And this time he insists that i source the part so he wont have to take flack for that effin hillarious

or else i can take it to somebody else like Wasantha

My worry was that it'll be a "fresh" start with a new guy and i would have to go through some more hassle since the present fella at least knows the sad history of the job

john cooper · November 18, 2008

Inwane machan 2day i went 2 kurunegala and i had enough time to check a rack 4 u, anyway ll c

nira74 · November 18, 2008

A recon rack would have cost you much less in the first place..... too bad you already spent on the repair kit.

Repair kit usually doesn't work because its usually the shafts that get worn out on our roads so replacing the oil seals wont help. Owned a 87 sprinter myself sometime back and the recon rack worked just fine.

Also ask your mechanic to check the power steering hoses carefully for leaks. In my car the hose and rack went at the same time.... replaced the hose with a locally fabricated one..... that too worked just fine.

Ruslan · November 18, 2008

i experienced similar thing as well.. i had to replace brake pads on my car.. when the Mech. guy remove the pads and jiggle the caliper pins, it was rattling like hell.. so the Mech. guy was recommends to lathe it.. i went totally against it. cos we did the same thing to our Van (CR 27) it lasts like 8000 Kms after refill an lathe. went around Delkanda Area found the Entire Hub for 6000/- a piece (Brand new Brake pad set at Agents were 12,000/-) this contains almost new Pads, Disc and Caliper pins. got good results thanks to the cheap Recon parts.. lathe work doesn't work always because in lathe we are filling entire different metal into existing metal. there is a small difference between both so it tends to wear bit higher than the original Metal that existed.

Edited November 18, 2008 by Ruslan

The Don · November 18, 2008

Yeps, if it makes you feel any better Ripper I found out the hard way as well. Though it was never this bad lathed solutions always tend to wear away pretty quickly. I'm not sure if somebody can direct us to a good machine who can do the job properly but filling CV joints, rack ends and steering bits is usually an utter waste of time.

If economical always replace with brand new bits (even OEM parts like 555 provide perfectly acceptable quality, so don't need to go to agents or own brand products)

If not economical try to source a good used replacement

Lathing should be the last option and should always be considered a temporary fix.

In your and your mechanics defence even I would have tried the repair kit first ! I think the problem in SL as somebody mentioned is it is not only the oil seals which wear out but the metal bits as well !

maithri · November 18, 2008

Hi,

It is natural for steering racks to wear out with time, especially if the car is nearly 15 years old, the seals will perish and the rack (the metal rod with teeth cut into it through the middle) to wear on its shaft. New seals will not remove the wear on the shaft this will need to be replaced or filled with a metal welding technique and re machined to it's original size, then the final finish is critical so the seals are not damaged by even microscopic sharp edges. So called re conditioned parts must be repaired to these exacting standards, is the ones available in Delkanda just old units with new rack ends and rubber boots with a layer of new paint? or are they stripped inspected and re sealed with new rack ends and boots fitted, if so it should be better than your used option as you do not know how used the part is, it may be more used than the one you are removing-just not leaking oil yet! So the pitfalls are many but I feel for you, it appears your garage was not wrong in re sealing the old ones if they inspected and corrected any wear on the shaft but the machine work may not be up to standard, hardly un common even here in the UK. I know I am asking more questions than answering your question but these I believe are the questions you should ask your garage and the vendors of the parts you buy. It's a shame we cannot establish a proper re conditioning set up in Sri Lanka, with our high skills and low labour cost (JVP-Forget it) we could supply the western market easily with stuff like this at a good profit as long as the machinery is available.

Maithri

Ripper · November 19, 2008

thanks all

I normally stay with the car as much as i can when it's undergoing any form of repairs... This time i was too busy so left the car at the garage and didn't know what the hell was going on... looking at most posts....had i known the process, i doubt i would go for a lathe job Taken my chances with a used rack...

Now the bloody thing is leaking far more than it initially did so gotta top up daily

Mathri

as far as i know the delkanda area parts are NOT refurbed... Just brought into the country as parts and sold as is with 1 or 2 day warranties mostly...

Unless you know the selling joint somehow it's tough to get even a weeks time to test run your parts...

My replaced ECU only had sameday return policy

Now i'm on the hunt for a used rack and a decent place to buy it from... I'll go for a 110 rack since that would be at least a few years newer and i think the part is the same for 100 and 110.... The mechanic has replaced rack ends and boots etc so i all i really need is the rack only

emailed Peri for some contacts to good joints

thanks again guys

Devinda_Z · November 20, 2008

Ripper said:
"rack repair kit" (HellRazor, i know what ya thinking but this aint that)

ROTFL

The Don · November 20, 2008

Ripper said:
thanks all
I normally stay with the car as much as i can when it's undergoing any form of repairs... This time i was too busy so left the car at the garage and didn't know what the hell was going on... looking at most posts....had i known the process, i doubt i would go for a lathe job Taken my chances with a used rack...

Now the bloody thing is leaking far more than it initially did so gotta top up daily

Mathri

as far as i know the delkanda area parts are NOT refurbed... Just brought into the country as parts and sold as is with 1 or 2 day warranties mostly...

Unless you know the selling joint somehow it's tough to get even a weeks time to test run your parts...

My replaced ECU only had sameday return policy

Now i'm on the hunt for a used rack and a decent place to buy it from... I'll go for a 110 rack since that would be at least a few years newer and i think the part is the same for 100 and 110.... The mechanic has replaced rack ends and boots etc so i all i really need is the rack only

emailed Peri for some contacts to good joints

thanks again guys

I think the only rule of thumb you can go on is, the bigger the joint is the more generous their return policy will be Try Miyako in Delkanda, always helpful when I've been there or Dai Lanka.