C5 X7 Steering Rack - Again!

[aerodynamica]

That's kind Jay, thanks I had run a search for Wakefield and found SSL - and 4h away so not too bad for an overnighter. Or maybe they let you post the rack for return. Gonna call them tomorrow and see what's what. Wouldn't mind a wee trip to Aberdeen though, I'm an accents enthusiast (..although a Wakey accent is something I'm quite familiar with and it's up there with the faves too )

[GiveMeABreak]

I've merged this topic with the existing one with the same Title that I started a few years ago as much of the info in it may be relevant and will save repetition.

I got my refurbished rack from Autosteer Direct. 3 Year warranty on it.

Link here, but you'll have to contact them to see about stock:

http://www.autosteerdirect.co.uk/index.html

[Lenny]

At the risk of tempting fate, my rack from SSL in Waaaakey is still fine a year down the line.

I've used one of these...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144242799753 ... 3548115529

...to protect the pinion and it's lathered in waterproof grease so fingers crossed for a long and happy life
(but now expecting to find a puddle of orangey fluid under the car tomorrow morning).

[MattBLancs]

I have a leak! it's the steering. Usual place. I replaced the steering rack less than a year ago and it's leaking again. I want to cry now.

The LDS can be seen dripping from where the new pipe and the return pipe go into the pinion valve and I thought at first it might be the pipe connection needing looked at but had an idea to check through the rubber bung in the driver footwell and..



Looks like it's wet around the seal again. Not even one year.

Possibly also bad news for the effectiveness of the modification of fitting the CV boot around the area

Disheartening news

[aerodynamica]

I have a leak! it's the steering. Usual place. I replaced the steering rack less than a year ago and it's leaking again. I want to cry now.

The LDS can be seen dripping from where the new pipe and the return pipe go into the pinion valve and I thought at first it might be the pipe connection needing looked at but had an idea to check through the rubber bung in the driver footwell and..



Looks like it's wet around the seal again. Not even one year.

Possibly also bad news for the effectiveness of the modification of fitting the CV boot around the area

Disheartening news

I know man



Maybe disregard what I said about the rubber cv boot covering it all being ineffective. Correlation does not always equal causation!
I might simply be unlucky with the quality of the refurbished steering rack

[KennyW]

Graeme,

Worth removing the block of iron from the side of the Pinion to fit rubber gaiter over pinion seal, that's what I did. packed with gease and cable tied on shaft but not so tight on pinion itself.

Photo's on my thread which I think i sent to you the last time.

Kenny

[Jay-Bruce]

Have you considered fitting a speedisleeve to the pinion shaft? I'd wager you'd be capable of removing the pipework (super carefully), replacing the o-rings in the pinion housing with some suitably sized FKM / Fluororubber / Buna-N orings, fitting a speedi sleeve and reassembling the rack. Could be a cheap refurb, and it's not going to make it any worse :shrug

[Jay-Bruce]

PS: visiting me has no accent-safari value for you, I'm originally a Paisley boy, but have lost the twang, went almost accentless, sound a bit like David Coulthard, but the rest of the shire? You might learn some new words :-p

[aerodynamica]

Graeme,

Worth removing the block of iron from the side of the Pinion to fit rubber gaiter over pinion seal, that's what I did. packed with gease and cable tied on shaft but not so tight on pinion itself.

Photo's on my thread which I think i sent to you the last time.

Kenny

Hi Kenny, yes, I might do that this time. I did manage to fit the large CV gaiter over the metal lump last time but my gaiter was a different approach- small end of the gaiter over the pinion valve housing and the large end up through the hole in the foot well to 'seal' on the inside with the rubber bug holding it flat against the floor. I did notice this weekend though that it was not actually held by the bung any more so that wasn't ideal.

[aerodynamica]

Have you considered fitting a speedisleeve to the pinion shaft? I'd wager you'd be capable of removing the pipework (super carefully), replacing the o-rings in the pinion housing with some suitably sized FKM / Fluororubber / Buna-N orings, fitting a speedi sleeve and reassembling the rack. Could be a cheap refurb, and it's not going to make it any worse :shrug

You know, I already have two of each size of the O rings unused from a year ago. They were the ones from Simply Bearings. I'd be as well to fit them this time. As for the sleeve, is this intended to fill out the shaft against the leaking shaft seal? Not a job I've done before for anything but might work. I am looking into having the rack re-refurbished. Facilities are tight though - on Saturday I finally started the job of replacing the worn inner flex bushes of the control arms but it took so long to do the job I only got the LH side done.... There were problems with corrosion (surprise) between the metal bracket that holds the front height sensor and the alloy casting of the aft position bush that its fixed to.. The bracket had bent caused by a build up of corrosion material between the plate and casting. It had caused the front height to increase over time because the height sensor was slowly moving away from it's correct position.. took me a while to realise that was the cause of the non raising suspension when it all went back together after 7h working on the bushes. I'd refurbished the bracket and straightened it back but this made the suspension too low (I assume someone had readjusted it in the past to compensate for it going too high) so I had to adjust it manually and getting that right took ages. Bonus though... I now have the intermediate high position back! and the message now comes up on the dashboard to say so! (other thread elsewhere relates to the front height never reaching either mid or full high and the pump never stops)

Anyway, the car was parked all day today and when I checked it this evening the LDS patch underneath was about 200x100mm oval so not toooooo worrying leak rate. It actually appears to slow down after a while. MOT not till April so enough time to think about an approach. Must fix it to LAST this time..

[aerodynamica]

PS: visiting me has no accent-safari value for you, I'm originally a Paisley boy, but have lost the twang, went almost accentless, sound a bit like David Coulthard, but the rest of the shire? You might learn some new words :-p

David Coulthard OK

[bobins]

Have you considered fitting a speedisleeve to the pinion shaft? I'd wager you'd be capable of removing the pipework (super carefully), replacing the o-rings in the pinion housing with some suitably sized FKM / Fluororubber / Buna-N orings, fitting a speedi sleeve and reassembling the rack. Could be a cheap refurb, and it's not going to make it any worse :shrug

You know, I already have two of each size of the O rings unused from a year ago. They were the ones from Simply Bearings. I'd be as well to fit them this time. As for the sleeve, is this intended to fill out the shaft against the leaking shaft seal? Not a job I've done before for anything but might work. I am looking into having the rack re-refurbished.

The standard seal (that seals against the pinion shaft) in the pinion housing is just a single lip oil seal which is easily sourced. It can be replaced with a double-lip oil seal if you wish. The SpeediSleeve would slip over the pinion shaft and effectively provide shiny new metal for the oil seal to seal against - the only issue would be getting a suitable sized SpeediSleeve and also making the pinion shaft near enough round* for the Sleeve to slip down it. You probably also want to bed the Sleeve onto the shaft with a suitable adhesive or other substance to exclude air and moisture so the shaft doesn't continue to try and rust whilst covered by the Sleeve.

*- it will undoubtedly be a bit 'knobbly' due to rust.

[aerodynamica]

Well I've been chatting to Steering Specialist Ltd in Wakefield and I enquired whether they could fit a speedi sleeve but the guy was adamant that it doesn't need it.. I was kind of hoping he'd be more open to this after I explained how the current steering rack has not lasted.. I want to fix it for good! I feel that the thing will just fail again after a year.

Looks like they offer 18 m warranty on it though. I will clarify exactly what they do to refurb the pinion valve seal + shaft tomorrow if I am confirming the job with them.

[MattBLancs]

Shame not open to suggestions/ alternatives but guess would be challenging for the warranty.

Did I read somewhere was chrome plating the offending shaft? Would think last forever with decent plating job (unless the steering column clamp breaks the surface and let's corrosion under the plating. Would be ideal hard surface for lip seal to run against too.


Mentioned that lip seal is commonly available - can anyone confirm the details (and / or double lip version) ?

I may get a seal ordered for when mine joins the club...

(P.s. can't see anything in the service history - generally quite comprehensive and with big scary figures on several pages! - suggesting mine is original, but seems highly unlikely to be so)

[GiveMeABreak]

I loved my X7, spared no expense, but not long after the third rack was fitted with the mod, I reluctantly made the decision to move her on as I knew critical parts were also starting to become unavailable. The first 2 racks were genuine Citroen ones, the second one perishing a few years after the original, however when I sold her the refurbished rack was still looking good.