Hi all, I'd greatly appreciate some input with regards to how light/heavy the power steering is supposed to feel on MK2s Some background for context - I have a MK2 Jetta Coupe (16v swapped) which is LHD and originally came with manual steering. Me and my wimpy arms got tired of lugging it around so I decided to embark on the PAS conversion. Did a little research and decided to go with a MK3 rack and so hit up ebay to buy the only LHD rack I could find in the UK from a miscellaneous MK3 someone was breaking (probably a 1.8). The rack itself turned out to be the TRW type and didn't have a part number on it but being of unknown origin I decided it was probably best to get it refurbished so £150 later I had a fresh rack and had it installed in the car. Upon a short test drive, I noticed it felt rather vague and light but chalked it up to the alignment being completely out of whack as i'm confident that all of the bushings still have plenty of life left in them. After having the alignment done, the drive home was a little disappointing as the steering still felt noticeably vague and light and also didn't fully self centre. I had to manually turn the last few degrees. I thought this was the adjustment on the back but after playing around with it I realised it wasn't the issue. CUE THE SEARCH FOR ANOTHER RACK. This time, I was on the look out for a 'VR6/16V rack' which according to ETKA was different - not sure how, but VW says it has a different part number, so I guess something is different right? After a little bit more research I find myself on a questionable website with a listing for a ZF steering rack from a VR6 Passat that's being stripped - this will absolutely be the cure right? if it ever shows up that is. Well, I took a punt on it for only £80 shipped to the UK and to my surprise it actually showed up. I got to installing it and upon starting the car up I immediately noticed that the pump was quieter. A good sign right? Took it for a test drive and it's no longer vague, but the steering feel itself is very light which is fantastic around town, but doing a bit of spirited driving is absolutely terrifying with how little feel there is. some things to note - I haven't yet had it aligned since installing the new ZF rack as I'm pretty confident that this won't drastically improve the weight of the steering. The alignment itself is as close as I could get it in my garage. I guess my question is what would cause the steering to feel so light? Is this how the LHD model PAS is supposed to feel? I had a RHD MK3 Vento and a MK4 GTI and neither of them had steering this light - hell, even my MK3 Scirocco doesn't have steering this light. Is there anything that can be done to tone down the power assist? or is there something wrong with the PAS setup maybe? I have one of ebays finest pumps one there but I even tested a knackered OEM 16v pump and it felt exactly the same... albeit with a lot more noise. TL;DR: I retrofitted power steering to my LHD Jetta and now it feels super light and I'm out of ideas on how to make have more of a weighted feel. in short, help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.
How would I go about checking that to make sure it's not stuck? I'm not sure it would be the cause as both OEM and cheap ebay pump have the same feeling, but it's worth checking to rule it out.
So this is the readout from the last alignment before I swapped to the ZF rack. In theory, the camber should be pretty close as I didn't touch the camber bolts on the struts/steering knuckle. He aligned it to within factory specs - not sure if that's suitable or if it should be something more custom given its lowered by a few inches Edit: Would increasing the caster angle by widetracking the car improve the steering feel?
