D2 steering rack

[madcjd]

Hi.
Has anyone replaced a d2 steering rack?
How much time would you allow for removal?
Is it ideally a 2 man job at any point?

Any top tips?
Thanks

[brasiliangringo]

Yes i have. You can do it on your own like i did. Its a royal PITA gaining access to one of the bolts and is a blind operation - do not round it - doing so will mean puling the engine out to gain access to it. I accessed it from underneath with some wobble bars (i used a torx or allen insert) to access the 'combi bolt' either 16mm outer hex (i think) or torx allen insert.

Not sure what tooling you have, but i would not attempt it unless you are at least a serious amateur with some decent know how. I would give it a possible 4/5 for difficulty mainly because of this one bolt (on the S8 at least). You will also need to centre the rack on reinstall and mark the old one with wheels straight and make sure the steering-wheel column fits up as came off etc etc.

[sarg]

Me and my folks have, horrible horrible job, took us 3-4 weekends, but Audi would want around £1,700 for the job

[Goran]

Just a random thought, one of those ebay keyhole cameras could help, if you fix it into place to show the area of the bolt that you cant see, you can then watch the live feed on a laptop to help guide you.
I think I bought one like this.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7MM-6-LED-...item2a4642a913

[brasiliangringo]

Not a bad idea Goran. I hve one but wld need a 2nd person and worth a try if availabe. You can also feel it from below even if seeing isnt possible

[mannyo]

What are the symptoms Chris?. Just wondering if its a leak, perhaps its a pipe rather than rack failure.

[madcjd]

The symptons:
Dumping fluid from o/s steering gator (which is split), a horrible graunching noise and steering that requires very large biceps to operate!
This all happened on Friday eve, when wifey brought it back from work (in the dark).

Quick assessment on Sat morning, due planned weekend away, saw the mess the fluid had made on the road (and some on the drive). Looking through the gap in the wheel it was evident the oil was leaking from the gaitor and I assumed this to be internal seals in the rack. Needless to say the car was left outside the house, on the road, until further investigation time was available.

Whilst driving that horrible drive down to Croydon for the Saturday eve, and suffering the M25 car park, the conversation between wifey and I was "what are you going to do about the car?"
After long thoughts about my lack of working space and available time, and the other couple of jobs reqd on the car.......I think it may be time for retirement of the car?..............Which would be a big shame!

Due to work commitments, can't do anything now until Friday.

By the way Manny.........it's a year ago today I bought the car from you..........and loved it ever since! Last month I taxed it for another 12 months - that's how confident I was that I was going to keep the car going.

[mannyo]

There is a rack replacement guide on audipages for LHD which shows the steps involved. My old D2 did not have servotronic, not sure if that makes the process easier or not.

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...eer/srack.html

Looks like it could a right pain in the back side to change, so she did not quiet make 200K.

[madcjd]

Hi Manny.

I did have a 'google' of replacing the rack on Saturday morning.
Yes - looks quite a job and what with other issues such as, leaking oil seals, age, mileage, value, etc, I'm wondering if it's worth it.

I've just put a thread onto your original ad for the car - just for info and to see if anyone comes back with any thoughts.
I hate to use the 'scrap' word, but, I'm not sure how this is going to turn out?

Anyway, can't progress anything yet until the end of the week.

[madcjd]

And no...........she didn't quite make the 200K. I think she's on just over 199,200.
Damn!