Power steering woes.

[RaseR]

Hey all,

The steering in my R32 groans terribly when turning at low speeds and is now accompanied by a worrying (but fortunately occasional) thumping sound when you rock the wheel back and forth around the centre point while stationary.....The pump doesn't seem to be leaking, and I've tried adding Nulon power steering treatment which seems to stop the noises for a couple of months, only to come back as bad as it was before....Any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks!

[predator]

could quite likely be a dead/dying power steering rack... have a look under there and see whether you can see any oil around the rack boots. Also try pulling the tie rods and see whether there is any play in them.

[RaseR]

Hey predator, thanks for the response! I think you may be right, I had a look under the car last week and noticed the boots were a bit oily....I thought it might've been coming from somewhere else though as I don't seem to be losing power steering fluid or at least if I am it's certainly at a very slow rate..

hmmm, any idea much a reco R32 steering rack is likely to cost and where would I find such an item if I need one?

Hey, while we're here - my front brakes also creak really bad when I push the pedal in (I've got the std 4 piston sumitomo calipers), do you reckon my calipers might be stuffed as well? My discs and pads are quite worn, but I wouldn't expect them to cause this noise...

thx!

[RaseR]

bump! I'd still love more opinions on this one - if it helps, the steering only seems to make the noise when the car has been driven for a while (30mins or longer).

...thx

[aKTiVE]

Hey Buddy,

I had this EXACT problem.

I changed my power steering rack and pump.

All Good Now.

[predator]

RaserR - you'd probably need it checked out properly by a suspension place.. But a new rack is around the $200-$400 mark from what I've seen. A good place to source them cheaply is from somebody that has a half-cut ... and just wanting the engine or whatever.

Its a bit of a job to replace them as you have to remove a lot of the steering components to get to it so a few hours labour ontop of the rack.

My brakes creak a bit too.. but they still seem to work pretty nicely so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[RaseR]

Awesome, thanks again for the replies - I'll have the car checked out by a suspension place to confirm condition of the rack & pump.

I just like to have an idea of what I'm talking about before I take my car anywhere!