posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Tue Jan 15 06:52 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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I've been leaking steering fluid and in the last few weeks it's been getting worse. While messing with the tie rods, I can see that the source of the leak is the end seal on the passenger side of the steering rack. Info i've found suggests that you need to support the engine from the top so you can lower the support frame to get to the rack. Has anyone here done this? Is it really necessary to lower the support frame, or can it be jimmied out of the wheel well with patience? where can I get the engine support tool? any help or experience with this PLEASE! Thanks
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Have you tried any power steering stop leak fluid? Worked for me. Just a thought.
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'97 855na, Mobil 1, K&N, various IPD's and eBay's
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posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Wed Jan 16 20:40 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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Hi lilhelphere. You know it never occurred to me. But as long as I'm replacing it anyway, maybe I'll try it. I'm not generally inclined toward those type of fixes, but I've already written this car off as kind of a "keep it till it dies" vehicle. I'd hate to have to replace the pump too, though.
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Sorry, I don't remember which fluid it was exactly, just that the rack was leaking a little and my indy suggested it to try to save the rack, and it actually worked. That was many miles ago 30K or 40K with no ill effects to the pump. If your leak is bigger, it may not work, but I was surprised at how well it worked on mine.
Good luck,
Bill
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'97 855na, Mobil 1, K&N, various IPD's and eBay's
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I had to have the steering rack replaced on my 98 V70 T5M. The sub frame had to be dropped in order to do it. I took advantage of that necessity and had the beefy IPD front anti-sway bar installed. I had my indie do the work; he had all the necessary support equipment.
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Dave in Virginia; 1998 V70 T5(M): IPD MOTRONIC+ ECU Upgrade, Sport Muffler, IPD Strut Tower Brace; VDO Boost Gauge, IPD Anti-Sway Bars, Rocha ABS Control Unit/// 1988 245 DL Wagon// 1967 MGB Roadster
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posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Wed Jan 16 02:59 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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greetings Dave, how much was the steering rack part of the job? (labor/parts). Did he comment on the difficulty level?
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Hi Long-Gone,
This took place in November 2006, so you may have to scale up a tad.
The rack was $886.23 with the core returned to dealership from which my indie acquired the rack.
Installation of the rack was $320, but that included the labor for the sway bar and endlinks. At my indie's labor rate, that was about 4-5 hours. He made no comment about difficulty; They do this sort of thing often.
By comparison, at another time he replaced my clutch slave cylinder which is inside the clutch housing. That required dropping and removing the subframe/steering rack AND lowering the engine/transmission AND removing the transmission AND lotsa disconnections. I was worried when I saw my car up on the rack and field-stripped, but it all went back together nicely and has been no problem. The moral of the story, of course, is to have a well-qualified tech who KNOWS Volvos.
Good Luck
--
Dave in Virginia; 1998 V70 T5(M): IPD MOTRONIC+ ECU Upgrade, Sport Muffler, IPD Strut Tower Brace; VDO Boost Gauge, IPD Anti-Sway Bars, Rocha ABS Control Unit/// 1988 245 DL Wagon// 1967 MGB Roadster
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Volvo list on that is about $860.00, warranty book time to replace it is 3.0 plus alignment. Sounds like Dave's experience is pretty much right on the money. Yes, you will have to support the engineand drop the rear of the subframe to pull it out. Among other things, the pedestal that the rear engine mount sits on is an integral part of the steering rack so lift/supporting the engine is necessary. I purchased the engine support tool that I use in my shop from a place called Lone Star Tools.
Mark
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posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Wed Jan 16 11:31 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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Hi Mark, I found the Lone Star Tool Co website and they list two top engine supports. One is rated at 5-700lbs with a foward extension and the other has a heavy duty bar with adjustable width and holds up to 1100lbs. I'm inclined toward the latter, but I'm curious which you have (if you can determine that by my short description) and if you've used it yet on a late 90s early 00s Volovo (S80?).
On a note of interest, I stopped by the scrapyard today to make arrangements for them to tow away my old 240 (230K and still running great, but kind of tattered and in need of a complete brake overhaul). They're paying ME $200 for it. By a huge coincedence they were emoving the rack from a 99 S70 (they got $150 for it). They chopped all the lines, cut off the exhaust, lowered the back of the sub frame by about 10 inches and still had a bitch of a time maneuvering it out. They pulled it out from behind the frame with the tires still on it as opposed to pulling it out from the side. I'm not looking forward to this! Personally, these racks are notorious for going bad, I doubt I'd ever get a used one, even at $150.
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From your description I would say it is the later of the two. I would simply look at their website but I get the dreaded "bandwidth exceeded" message.
Sounds like the guys at the boneyard were working a little harder than they really needed to get it out of there.
Mark
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posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Wed Jan 16 08:06 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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Thanks for the replies and info. I looked around yesterday and found a rebuild unit with variable assist from a reputable steering specialist for $395 and $150 core and a 3 year warranty. Sounds like a pretty good deal. I had read a few articles about racks being removed from cars (other makes/models) where the manual called for lowering the sub frame, but the writer was able to manage without. If the rack is integral to the rear mount, then the support would be necessary. I'll have to find one or fabricate one. Does it need to lift the motor at all, or merely support it to keep it from dropping along with the sub frame? Thanks again. If I do it I'll post back how it went.
BTW does anyone know how to put photos in these threads? I was asked for some pics in another thread, I took them, but I'm not sure how to proceed to put them up here, and I'd like to comply with the poster's request.
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When you do this job, consider putting a 3/8" magnefine filter in the fluid return line to the reservoir. No sense starting out with all those wear particles and a new rack. Even if you flush the fluid, I would suggest a filter. I also run a second filter in the tranny cooler line. I've no connection with magnefine, etc, etc.
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posted by
someone claiming to be long-gone
on
Fri Jan 25 16:14 CST 2008 [ RELATED]
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Hi Larry. The filter is a pretty good idea, I'll definately check it out.
I decided to try Lilhelps advice and put in some stop leak. By this time though the leak has gotten pretty bad, to the tune of about a half pint a day - average driving/distance. I used the Lucas product which suggests one bottle for small leaks and a maximum of two bottles. After the first bottle, amazingly it reduced it back to just several drops a day, no puddles. I'm going to go ahead and add a little more , but the rack/piston is somewhat scored and I've resigned to replacing the rack, but hopefully the stop leak will manage it enough to buy me time till warmer weather.
It needs inner and outer tie rods, which I had been holding off on pending the new rack which comes with new inners. But I'll put them on now and when I finally do the rack this spring, I'll pull them and save them for the inevitable premature replacement later, it needs outers anyway. I ordered an appropriate separator to cleanly pop the outers when I do the rack in the spring. I also found it necessary to buy a special extra thin wrench (1/4"-6.5mm) to fit on the very thin wrench flats on the inner tie rods. There are also special inner tie rod tools made by various companies (snap-on, lisle, etc) for these type of tie rods which thread right into the steering rack that sell for about $90-130 ($50-80 on ebay) and make the job easier, particularly in torquing them to proper specs.
Thanks for all the responses! Though I feel I'm a competent mechanic, individual cars have developed such specialized systems, and major (even minor) components are getting so expensive, it really helps to hear the voice of experience before making one wrong presumption or missing a preemptive step that costs many hours and hundreds of bucks.
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