Rack and Pinion Broken

**Joaltava** · 07-21-2007, 01:52 PM

Well guys its been a couple of days and i have noticed that my power steering fluid was low so this past week i went ahead and started checking to see if any of my lines or my hoses where broken or loose and maybe thats where i was leaking. Thursday came and i went to auto zone to get some power steering fluid when i started to get the noice in which i know that means that im low on fluid so i buy the fuid and come back to the car and with the car on i start to pour power steering fluid but for some reason it wont fill up at all so i empty the whole quart of fluid and nothing it still shows that i was empty. I go ahead and i decide to check under the car and there i found out there are two big ass leaks coming from both sides of the rack and pinion. I have gone ahead and checked some places and they are charging me $240 dollars just for the rack and pinion. I found this place thats charging $120 with a year warranty.

My questions are the following?

1st What other stuff should i check and change if needed?

2nd The car is driveable but i dont want to burn the power steering pump, will it work if i take off the belt?

3rd Is it possible to convert the car to manual steering just curious?

Thanks
Anthony

**4-G-rim** · 07-21-2007, 02:03 PM

$240 sounds like a decent price for a good steering rack..but you could get one a little bit cheaper IMO.

1st What other stuff should i check and change if needed?

Hopefully your P/S pump is ok. If it is leaking or it was making noise then its safe to say to replace the pump. Check the hoses to make sure they are ok..but if you plan to keep the car, I would probably look at replacing them while you are replacing the steering rack. Oh yah..replace the belt.

The new steering rack should be complete w/ inner tie rods. I would go ahead and replace the outer tie rods with the new rack. Of course new P/S fluid and a alignment and you are good to go.

2nd The car is driveable but i dont want to burn the power steering pump, will it work if i take off the belt?

I wouldn't run the car too long, you will kill the pump that way. If you remove the belt it will be like driving w/o power steering..just a bit harder though.

3rd Is it possible to convert the car to manual steering just curious?

Yes its possible but if there is a non power steering rack available in either our 7g Galants or 2g Eclipses/Talons, and I think there wasn't..but I could be wrong. IF there was you could swap to a manual rack and eliminate the P/S pump, belt and hoses.

**Joaltava** · 07-21-2007, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by 4-G-rim

$240 sounds like a decent price for a good steering rack..but you could get one a little bit cheaper IMO.

1st What other stuff should i check and change if needed?

Hopefully your P/S pump is ok. If it is leaking or it was making noise then its safe to say to replace the pump. Check the hoses to make sure they are ok..but if you plan to keep the car, I would probably look at replacing them while you are replacing the steering rack. Oh yah..replace the belt.

The new steering rack should be complete w/ inner tie rods. I would go ahead and replace the outer tie rods with the new rack. Of course new P/S fluid and a alignment and you are good to go.

2nd The car is driveable but i dont want to burn the power steering pump, will it work if i take off the belt?

I wouldn't run the car too long, you will kill the pump that way. If you remove the belt it will be like driving w/o power steering..just a bit harder though.

3rd Is it possible to convert the car to manual steering just curious?

Yes its possible but if there is a non power steering rack available in either our 7g Galants or 2g Eclipses/Talons, and I think there wasn't..but I could be wrong. IF there was you could swap to a manual rack and eliminate the P/S pump, belt and hoses.

Thanks man, i just kept on checking and i found this place where they just do rack and pinions and cv joints and they want $95 with a one year warranty.

The power steering pump was not the one making the noice it was the actual rack and pinion.

I also checked the hoses and they look fine i dont see any cracking or show of wear and tear, i did also check the belt and yeah that needs to be change.

Just curious, if i decide to run the car without the power steering belt would it destroy the rack and pinion or what type of problem will it cause in the long run?

**4-G-rim** · 07-21-2007, 02:54 PM

Just curious, if i decide to run the car without the power steering belt would it destroy the rack and pinion or what type of problem will it cause in the long run?

You wouldn't want to go w/o power steering because you will eventually get tired of the more resistance you will be experiencing w/o pwr steering. I am assuming with the rack dry w/ barely any fluid for a long period of time would seize. Again I am not sure...never experienced it.