mnovak

Just noticed the steering rack on my 1991 200 is leaking. Any suggestions on what to do (or any do it yourself site?) other than have the local mechanic repair it. Thanks---------

centaurus3200

i bought a reman rack from jorgen for my 200 20V. DO NOT buy another brand. jorgen remans are a bit more, but they will outlast the car. at least from what i've been told.

where do you live? i'm in teh SF bay area.

Robby

toml99

There's an incredibly thorough writeup on Motorgeek by a guy with username Crappyoldaudis titled "Howto replace 200 steering rack". Tom

mnovak

Thanks for the information! Having searched other sites I have seen Jorgen mentioned as very good and the only thing I have heard that may not be good for me is that they may not send a rack if I am not professional mechanic working at a commerical garage (only saw one comment mentioning this, however). It sure would be fun to work together on replacing a rack, but living in SW Montana it would be a bit of a drive (my 200 is still pretty good---chipped and goes like the dickens---------all stuff works and has been garaged its entire life). However, I have been looking at the S5 and S6 for 2008, but am a bit concerned about the carbon fouling for both and with the S6 the torque converter that my 200 never had--funny how the better they get the more expensive the issues seem to be with these newer wonder cars. Thanks.

dkarten

I had already replaced it in 2006, car now has 350K, I didn't want to replace it again & tried a product I found on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/180729562655...84.m1438.l2649

THIS STUFF WORKS, it not only stopped leaking but the car is quieter over bumps & the steering feels like new. this replacement rack always thumped & sounded ratty, I thought it was the age/mileage of the car but now see it's the rack, been over 1 year & no problems whatsoever

Pushbutton_auto

Oldie but a goodie ...

It's a good idea to get the engine compartment de-greased before doing this job. If the rack was leaking, it'll be a sludge site down there. Good old Gum-out spray works great.
Have a supply of assorted hose clamps on hand.
Centre the steering wheel.
Remove the hydraulic fluid reservoir from the car. You have to get under the car to get one of the hoses to the accumulator.
Remove the windshield washer reservoir.
Unsnap the boot/covering where the passenger-side tie rod passes through the wheel well (This is where the rack will come out).
Undo the tie-rods from the rack. You have to smash the retainer plate open.
Don't even try to undo the hydraulic lines from the rack at this point. Instead, undo the "other" end of each of these flexible lines. One is at the pump, and one (I think) is at the reservoir. Put some Saran wrap or something around the banjo bolt that came off the pump. From inside the car, remove the bolt that connects the steering column to the rack. There is no need to remove trim panels or trays. Pull the steering column thingy off of the rack. The column piece will probably fall out, but that's OK. It's easy to put back later.
Unbolt both ends of the rack from inside the engine compartment.
On the passenger side, there's a wiring harness down there at the end of the rack. Cut the cable clamp that holds this harness to the body (near the end of the rack).
With a helper, wiggle the left end of the rack out of the mounting area. Note that the hydraulic lines are still connected.
Be patient and with some intelligent wiggling, move the left end of the rack toward the tie rod hole in the wheel well. Be careful to get the steering column knuckle out of the firewall.
After the rack is shifted to the left a few inches, rotate the entire rack towards the front. This will allow you to remove the hydraulic lines at the rack easily. At this point, we only removed the non-pump hose, and decided to drag the pump hose out with the rack. This worked well. Be very careful to remember how the hydraulic line was oriented on the rack.
With more intelligent wiggling, rotate and shift the rack out of the passenger side wheel well. There is no need to remove the tire, but you may want to jack up the body a few inches. The tie rod will be in the way, but the rack CAN be wiggled out through this hole with the tie rod in place.
After the rack is out, have a beer.
Clean everything. Remove the filter out of the fluid reservoir and clean it well. When clean, it is shiny metal coloured and not black.
Put the new rack next to the old rack. Remove the remaining hydraulic line and remember how it was arranged (very important). Do any flushing/cleaning and put the pump hydraulic line on the new rack.
Get the steering column piece that connects to the rack (from inside the car). Bring it to the new rack, and trial fit it onto the rack knuckle thingy. It can only go on one way, but you may have to tap it a few times with a block of wood. WD40 helps a lot. Remove and install this piece a few times until it slides easily on the shaft. While this piece is connected, turn the steering knuckle all the way to the left and all the way to the right. Count the turns and try to center the rack. These things will save BIG frustrations later-on when reconnecting the steering column piece in the car.
Remove the tie rod plate assembly from the old rack. It fits into grommet-like holes in the rubber boot. Install this onto the new rack. This is a pain, but it's worse if you try to do this later. After the grommet thingies are installed, further secure this bracket to the rack with wire or string or tie-wraps. This will keep the bracket from falling off during rack installation.
Put the rack back in the way it was removed. Do the rotate thing again and install the other hydraulic line.
Carefully wiggle the rack into its mounting area. Fasten the mounting bolts loosely. The Bentley book says to tighten the rack to the frame with no weight on the wheels. We did this. I assume this prevents any rack mounting stress.
Finding the tie rod holes when installing the tie rod bolts is tricky. Just be patient. After the tie rod bolts are started, remove the temporary strapping on the tie rod bracket. Don't over-tighten the tie rod bolts as you can bend the new rack. Be sure to re-bend the metal locking plate back over the heads of the tie rod bolts.
Vice grip pliers work well for this.
Reconnect all of the "stuff" under the hood.
To reconnect the steering column, first make sure the steering wheel is Unlocked (caused me lots of grief). Slide the "piece" that was removed earlier onto the steering column. Be careful not to allow any wiring to get caught or pinched. Carefully slide the other end of this piece onto the rack knuckle (it only goes on one way) and insert the bolt. Only tighten the bolt enough to allow slight friction on the sliding parts.
The steering wheel is spring loaded. Have a helper push down on the steering wheel as far as it goes, then have him/her back off ~1/8" and hold it there. Now slide the column piece as far as possible onto the rack knuckle and tighten it.
Fill the reservoir with good old Pentosin and start the engine. Watch the level and add as necessary. Turn the steering wheel all the way left and right and check the fluid again.
You'll probably need to adjust the rack. There's a 10mm bolt on top of the rack (on the assembly that connects to the steering column under the hood). If the steering is real stiff, loosen this bolt. My method is to shut off the engine with the wheels centered. Have a helper wiggle the steering wheel left and right. Loosen the adjuster bolt until to you hear/feel play. Re-tighten until this play just disappears.
Look for leaks, and if all is OK, drink more beer.

I'd get the front end re-aligned. Mine wasn't off by much, but it did affect toe slightly. Plus, if your steering wheel is no longer centered, alignment will fix that too (Mine was right on, but the second car we did was off a bit).