steering rack help please

[Paulbarr73]

hi guys,
I just realised I posted in technical articles when I need help!
basically it looks like I need to get my steering rack sorted out, fluid leaking out the gaiters.
can anyone give me advice on wether recon is a false economy over remanufacturing?
if anyone can tell me their experiences off this I'd be very grateful, and I promise to get some pictures up soon.

 

[Mark Elder]

If it's leaking be sure to keep it topped up because, if it runs dry, it gets expensive...

I've not had to change mine but I'm sure others on here have had recons and been pleased - but maybe it's just your gaiters.

 

[matthewb]

Hi Paul

Out of interest, how many miles have you done and how much movement/play is there? I've done 145k and there was 'significant play' (dangerous) according to JZ Machtech.

Recons, apparently, are poor quality (no new parts available, so the best bits of several knackered racks are used to build one 'working' rack).

New racks are getting to be as rare as hens' teeth. I've just bought a new one - before they're all gone. It's only gonna cost £2,000 inc VAT and labour. Eeek.

Cheers
Matthew


P.S. In addition, it turns out that anything that can wear out has worn out - with the exception of the engine and the ciggy lighter. I'm looking at a total bill that is breathtaking. Still, I'm assured by Steve at JZM I'll be getting a 'new' car back in a week's time

 

[John Maddox]

This happened to mine - noticed level had fallen and no obvious leaks. Oil was in the rubber gaiters. OPC wanted £1000 + Vat to replace rack. Took it off myself and got it reconditioned for £199 and refitted it. Been ok for 4 years now. If you do this yourself there is the extra expense of new bolts and a full geometry adjustment after disturbing the suspension also.

Regarding comment about recons being poor quality - this is certainly not the case with mine. The steering is pin sharp and I could not have been more pleased with the job.

Make sure you do not run the pump dry as this is mighty expensive and can't run dry for long.

 

[matthewb]

Hi John

I'm glad you've had trouble-free motoring for 4 years - look at my other posts and you'll see I haven't been as lucky (e.g. 70g of blasting media in one front hollow-spoke wheel has caused untold trouble with wheel balancing and brown trousers),

Are, perhaps, the operative words "4 years"? I'm just wondering what we've got available these days?

Cheers
M

 

[carrerasport]

Give zf a call in nottingham ,they make the rack for porsche in the first place and they will recondition yours or supply you with one on an exchange basis for a fraction of the dealer price, the only recon work they do is of the highest order so if they say upon reciept &inspection of your rack that they can overhaul it, be assured it will be as good as new!It will cost somewhere aroud £400-600 pounds but this is a worthwhile saving over any options a porsche dealer will give you,as for any other recon companies they usually just replace the seals to make it oil tight again ,which if that was the only problem is ok, but in my experience they start to leak into the gaiters (which incidently should not have any oil in them period!) when the bushes in the rack wear and allow the parts to move beyond the elasticity of the oil seals!.therefore a cheap recon does not usually fix the root of the problem. and as we all know 993's are getting old and worn nowadays.
#My advice is to get the best recon /rebuilt rack money can buy and without doubt that is the one that the original equipment manufacturer supplies Zf great britain (hq in nottingham)
hope this helps C

 

[davidcross]

I'm collecting my 1995 c4 993 Monday when my 2004 997 goes. The steering comparrisons between the two cars I've already noticed are that the 993 steering is heavier. I'm guessing this is just a ' year of manufacture' thing rather than anything I shud b unduly worried about at this stage given this thread?? Car done a well documented 70k miles and I didn't notice any play on the steering when I've test driven it. Signs to look for would b helpfully tks

 

[John Maddox]

Matthew - I did read your post about the hollow spoked wheel and the grit problem. It would have driven me mad too - I hate wheel imbalance as my wife will testify when a few years ago on holiday I had a problem and swapped weels around several times to try and get a smooth drive !!

 

[davidcross]

I'm collecting my 1995 c4 993 Monday when my 2004 997 goes. The steering comparrisons between the two cars I've already noticed are that the 993 steering is heavier. I'm guessing this is just a ' year of manufacture' thing rather than anything I shud b unduly worried about at this stage given this thread?? Car done a well documented 70k miles and I didn't notice any play on the steering when I've test driven it. Signs to look for would b helpfully tks

 

[sailor]

ORIGINAL: davidcross

I'm collecting my 1995 c4 993 Monday when my 2004 997 goes. The steering comparrisons between the two cars I've already noticed are that the 993 steering is heavier. I'm guessing this is just a ' year of manufacture' thing rather than anything I shud b unduly worried about at this stage given this thread?? Car done a well documented 70k miles and I didn't notice any play on the steering when I've test driven it. Signs to look for would b helpfully tks

The 993 has much better steering "feel" than the kettles. You are probably feeling that difference!

JohnC
993turbo

 

[Paulbarr73]

To reply an earlier post, the car has done 85k miles, and been well looked after.
As for the rack issue, I've been speaking to my mechanic and going through the options, they send racks off to zf in germany, and do either recons or remanufacture. The other option, speak to zf in nottingham and see what they offer (will do on monday), other than that speak to western power steering in bristol (anyone had dealings with these guys? testimonials would be great!) and see what £200 with them really gets me.
I like the idea of sending it back to ZF but the rack itself but don't know wether it needs a full remanufacture, as it feels really tight and accurate, it's just leaking fluid through into the gaiters.
So I've come to the conclusion that I'm not going to give porsche around £3500 for this job, that money would be much better spent elsewhere on the car.
I've also been told the bushes in the wishbones are coming a way and need replacing, but while I was in the garage I heard them telling another owner that his needed doing too. I got a second opinion on them, and was told that they don't need doing, which is a relief because they were quoting 8 hours labour to remove, refit and rebush the current wishbones. They would use 'better' quality poly rather than the rubber bushes that come on the new ones. But there is only a small saving over using new wishbones from porshce. Oh what to do!!!

 

[vic cohen]

Mate this is nt a black art!

With ur mileage its quite plausible that both ur rack leaks , which is a fact and the wishbone bushes wearing have nt helped it to arrive at this state , they suffer wear and tear if the car is used ...............overall feel without making comparisons will simply be crap compared to one thats right!

Go to a decent indie, with half a brain and ur rack will be replaced with a recon ,with gty for a modest sum; U CANT get away without doing geo at same time and u might as well sort ur wishbones and save the expense of doing that again, at the same time..........while u can see the fluid pouring from gaiters , no shortcuts , u can also see with the car on the ramp and assistance of a lever the movement in the wishbones......they can do this in front of u so u have no doubts either .......this only leaves ur front shocks which by now are possibly on the way out but not terminal ................i ve only had half a dozen 993 s of all types ...........its all normal, just bite the bullet and then go and enjoy a superb car ........................

alternative drive a bouncy , vibrating car that starts life with understeer and wait until u hit a big bump and fly off a road ......................................

 

[Paulbarr73]

I see what you mean Vic, nothing to compare it to, so how much better is it going feel after doing the rack and wishbones. Luckily, the shocks have already been done, with bilstein hd's
I'm hoping to tackle the wishbones myself, but we'll see eh.
All this came to light when I wanted to get the geometry done, it all got a little scary and expensive sounding after that.

 

[vic cohen]

ok so shocks out the way, good.

U can either replace bushes or buy complete wishbones , the former cheapest way not my choice though, been a thread on this , that will illiminate vibration u must be feeling if worn , assuming bearings ok and properly adjusted , if not dead easy .

The rack pretty much covered but a -z

seals fail , fluid builds up in gaiters ..ultimately big pink blob on floor!

Unless run without fluid for a long time ................wud feel very heavy, U WUD KNOW, wud ultimtely wreck steAring pump at rear, running dry , the actual rack

i have to say some of prices bandied around not quite what i ve seen .......

New rack, 2 year gty from Main Agent in London i got fitted inc geo for £1 k ......................was 3 years ago!

A good indie shud still get all this for abt half .......................and the rack needless to say , will come from reliable sourse , gty will be shorter

Whatever u choose at least u know the rack has nt been run dry for long time and damged internally and ur starting off wit A OK front geo............and the rack shud include track rod ends in case ever had a good curbinbg etc

I have only ever had one new Porsche ....a 993 ! Do all this and urs will feel like new for a good while to come .................all the feeling on this 'light' front engined car is coming thru these parts discussed , ITS VITAL they re right ......................AS ITS BEEN WELL CARED FOR PRESUME TYRES ARE GOOD AND WELL BALANCED ...THAT WUD SPOIL IT ALL IF THEY RE NOT!

If ur in London area i can pm u a choice of good people to do this ............

 

[Paulbarr73]

I'm down in bournemouth, and the garage I'm using is Jon Mitchell in christchurch. He seems to know what he's on about and has plenty of testimonials on his website.
The tires are wearing on the inside edge pretty badly so it's going to be new fronts, wishbones, rack, and by the sound of it the whole track rods as I don't seem to be able to get just track rod ends.
At least the shocks have already been done!
It's just a shame that wanting the geometry corrected has opened such a big and expensive can of worms!

 

[vic cohen]

Sorry dont know ur area well........as long as hes Porsche experienced trust him ..........inside edge perfectly normal wear.

Ur car will be transformed by correct geo and the se bits ................absolutely promise !

My son bought a 993 couple of years back almost 100k miler......................tyres ok , struts fine geo good , tyres showed normal wear

Changing wishbones inc geo was nt cheap but transformed the car .........was on h&r springs and therefore slightly lower from day one ............however like for like brilliant improvement , turned in , did nt wander etcetc

Racks from what i ve found its almost down to luck, FWIW the one replaced by Main Agent faield in 18 months ...............repalced no quibble .

Whether u thrash up and down country lanes or spend time kerbing them in the Cities [ only kidding] racks to wear out , i repeat ur mileage is nt atypical ...................though mileage of course not the only factor.

Good luck have fun with it ........still one of the best allround Porsches they ve produced!

 

[Paulbarr73]

Deleted to avoid libel action .. [8|]
I'm going to call western power steering tomorrow to see what there service involves.

 

[John Maddox]

Hi Paul - I posted earlier in your thread - It was Western Power Steering who did mine 4 years ago. I removed the rack and took it down to them and collected it a few days later. Been perfect since. I will say that they are a small firm in a very small unit when I visited but nevertheless they did a good job on mine.

 

[38F3E1]

If you have got wear on the inside of your fronts this is usually a good sign the wishbone bushes have gone. Obviously can be caused by bad alignment but if the alignment is good whilst the car is stationary then it's definately the wishbones. They do tend to go around 90K miles. Also I have heard of steering racks going around the 90K mark too with the exact symptoms of fluid leak. They also go about the same time on the 964. I had a recon rack on my old 964 and was about half the price of the part from the OPC from memory and it was fine for the next 20K miles before I sold the car. I'm sure it came from Nottingham.

The price with the rack and the labour to change it was under £1000 from memory.

Ian.

 

[tomwinton]

Think I posted this somewhere else.... no relation, but found this on Fleabay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260434061879&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Ta

TOm