Subject: 164 power steering leak

[Robert Nash <RJN@decade.co.uk>]

>I just take a look where my power steering is leaking.
>it is leaking just in front of driver side.
>Cammmisa give me a quote of somewhere between $1,500
>to replace the rack and all hoses over the telephone. 
> Actually cost may be less when they take a look.     
> OUCH !

> Anyone has similar experience ? Can it be DIY ? 

Hi,

	I just changed my power steering rack on my 164 V6 1989. It was leaking at the o-rings at the end of the rack. I tried a stop leak - o-ring revitalizer - didn't work. 
I think you refer to it as a 164S. It took me about a day to do. It requires a lot of crawling under the car and a friend to help.

If manual transmission.

1   Remove the gear linkage bolt and adapter from the gearbox.

2   Remove the bolt from sync bar from the gearbox. Next to the linkage adapter. I causes the gear stick to maintain the correct alignment with the gearbox.

3   Inside the car remove the bolts holding the gear stick down. You will have to remove the leather cover over the gear stick.

4   Pull the base of the gear stick as far back as possible while pushing the top of the gear stick forward. This creates space for the rack to slide out.

5   Remove the rubber boot at the base of the steering column to bulk head.

6   Undo the bolt on the clamp between the steering and power steering rack. In the drives foot-well.

7   Remove the bolts holding in the metal plate around the spline of the steering rack in the drivers foot-well. You won't be able to remove it until the steering rack is loose. These gives a bit more room to maneuver.  

8   Drain the power steering fluid.

9   Jack up the car at the front and remove the two front road wheels. Makings sure the car is stable.

10   From underneath the car remove the return and feed pipes to the power steering rack from the pump. You will want to have a container ready to catch the fluid.

11   Split the balljoints on the track rod ends from the front suspension legs. 

12   Undo the four mounting bolts holding the steering rack to the cross member.

13   You may want to take the to take the metal feed pipes of the steering rack itself. They look like brake pipes. It makes the job slight easier.

14   You should now be able to slide the  steering rack out by sliding out towards the passengers side. You might want to jack the engine up on a piece of wood to give you more room.

I changed the tie rod ends because I could get the old ones off. I counted the number of spare threads remaining on fixed the new ones in roughly the same place.

Fitting is the same mention above except in reverse order. I would change the copper sealing washers on the  hydraulic feed and return pipes.

I hope it goes fine, let me know if this was of any  help.



Robert