LHM ?? leak from steering rack

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Ross
Posts: 111
Joined: 05 Dec 2004, 14:45
Location: United Kingdom
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LHM ?? leak from steering rack

Post by Ross »

Evening all - hope you are all well - lol
I noticed a leak from under the car today and on inspection it appears to be coming from the offside steering rack gaiter and I assume its LHM.
Looked in the BOL and there doesnt appear to be any information under the relevant paragraph so either I am looking at the wrong bit or there really isnt anything in the BOL.
Has anyone had this problem or know whether or not this is a relatively simple task to resolve
In fact any information would be useful.

Thanks a lot

Ross
VSX 1.9 TD 160K on a "L" plate (and still going well)
slim123
Posts: 377
Joined: 20 Jul 2006, 22:49
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Post by slim123 »

Hi Ross,

This will be the pinion valve leaking.

The BX (also Xantia and XM) power steering is a fairly simple system of a manual rack with an assistance ram strapped to the back, the hydraulic fluid is delivered at pressure (140-) to the pinion valve, depending on the way you turn the steering it will deliver the pressure to one or the other side of the double acting ram.

The pinion consists of several seals inside to ensure that the fluid goes to the correct place, there are 2 x seals to stop the fluid from leaking externally, if the top seal leaks then it pours out all around the pinion and onto the floor, if the bottem seal leaks then the rack will slowly fill up with LHM untill it is full and then drip out onto the road.

The rack should have no fluid at all inside, just some grease, so if there is any LHM dripping from the rack, it's new pinion time.

Whilst doing the job it is allways worth blowing through the return pipe as a blocked return can blow the seal at the bottem, also you will need to get some fresh grease inside the rack as LHM is very good at washing away the old grease.

Pleiades at Sawtry do recon pinions and they aint too bad to fit, you dont have to remove the rack to fit a pinion, it will all come apart in situ.

Regards
Slim.
Ross
Posts: 111
Joined: 05 Dec 2004, 14:45
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:

Post by Ross »

Thanks for your help Slim - are there any pictures available of this or alternatively some sort of "guide" to undertaking this work - in truth I dont even know what a pinion looks like and have never had to work on a steering rack before so its all a little new to me.
Thanks M8
citronut
Posts: 10937
Joined: 29 Apr 2005, 00:46
Location: United Kingdom east sussex
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x 92

Post by citronut »

the pinnion is the part were the colum conects to the rack, it has two pipes atatched to it
regards malcolm
slim123
Posts: 377
Joined: 20 Jul 2006, 22:49
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Post by slim123 »

Hi Ross.

The pinion valve is a sort of turret that sticks out of the rack and has a flexible coupling on top, form this coupling the whole thing connects to the steering column.

There are 4 x pipes on the pinion to remove the feed, the return and the 2 x pipes to feed the ram.

Removal.

Inside the car slacken off the lower universal joint about half way down the column.
under the car, remove the heat shield and undo and remove the bolt on the lower part of the flexible coupling.
Push the coupling up towards the steering wheel to clear it from the pinion
Remove the rack damper and spring from the rear of the rack, just below the pinion,
Undo the pipes to the ram, best to remove completly but draw yourself a picture of how to get them back correctly.
Undo the feed pipe (4.5mm) and the return pipe.
Undo and remove the two bolts holding the pinion into the rack (allen key)
Pull the pinion up and remove.
Putting back is a fair obvious backwards read.
Dont worry about getting the steering wheel ligned up to straight ahead, as you can do this later by simply removing the steering wheel and putting back on with the wheels straight ahead.

I cant find a piccy but maybe if you have a look at www.citroen-hydraulics.com you might find one.

Regards
Slim
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