So, finally got a couple of hours to myself and got the car up on axle stands at the weekend. The groaning is definitely coming from the tie-rod / track rod end area.
I'm thinking that perhaps when I was trying to change the track rod ends a while back I applied so much heat to the driver's side trying to separate it from the inner tie rod that I might have completely dried out all the grease on the ends of the rack. (Even with the whole tie-rod off, on the bench and applying a bit of Oxy to it, they still wouldn't separate, making me feel less of a weakling than I had when trying with blowtorch and spanners in situ)
I wasn't aware that these should be greased as ElsaWin doesn't mention this as part of the procedure and I always thought steering rack boots were more dust covers than grease boots. So, when I refitted the new inner tie rod and track rod end, I didn't grease anything. Should I have done?
Despite the lack of grease mentioning in ElsaWin, VagCat shows 'steering grease 250g' AOF06300004 as part of the steering rack parts. Can anyone offer any advice before I go greasing up parts I shouldn't? Fnaar
