steering rack leak kwestchoons

[Rightseat]

ok so the g/f's well-worn Foreter is starting to stink when hot.

turns out the steering rack is leaking where the steering column u-joint enters the rack. seal is weeping, dribbling goop onto exhaust = stinkage

question is, "is this seal repairable, or is it just easier to replace the part with a used one. looks like the rack would have to come out either way.

the leakage is thick milky-white, as if water is mixing with the steering fluid. reservoir level is NOT low, kinda strange. is there maybe some other fluid in this box, not the PSF itself?

O gurus of the Scooby garages with all sorts of experieense fixing old-car weirdness...pls help me.

 

[Shorty]

I show a repair kit for said location. It comes with the seal and also the upper and lower bearings on that input shaft. The only thing it is missing is the top dust seal.

Your cost

Kit $27.72

dust seal $2.72

For that kinda money, I'd try it if it were me. A reman rack would probably be $150 or so. On a lot of Scoobs you can't get reman racks and new ones are in the neighborhood of $600-$700. I'd bet the the bearings have play, allowing the shaft to wander, causing it to leak. Or, maybe the seal is just junk. I'll find intructions and e-mail 'em. Over and out.

 

[Redline]

So is that just bearing grease? Or lithium grease? Or... ?

 

[Shorty]

After reading the instructions, I priced a reman rack at McNAPA. $318 ;D

The whole rack has to be gutted and, in my experience, that's just not a good idea. It's like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

Oh, I hate being right all the time, but a factory rack has a list of $699.95.

 

[Rightseat]

but the NAPA or factory price does NOT include the used rack in Nigel's basement parts stash.

I'd like to try repairing the original rack, just on principle.

but oohh la la, there's a bunch or rusted and baked-on sheet that has to come off before anybody can start doing enviro-conscious repairs to a effeeng steerin rakk.

I'd recommend everybody on STM to buy stock in PB Blaster before I start the job. :

 

[Lawdawg]

Milky white could be air mixing with oil and cavitating in pump if leak area is ever under vacuum