Dads 96 8v gti broke down today but he managed to limp back home. He said the power steering pump was making a noise & he noticed it was leaking steering fluid from the passenger side Got the car up on a ramp outside the house & from what I can see theres a leak from one of the hard lines on the power steering. As I look into the engine bay its the upper hose on the RHS & if I go back a couple of inches (goes from a rubber hose to a hard line) as it goes down & bends left towards the drivers side (goes across the rack & into the far left of the steering rack) - its leaking I think at the this first bend left When Im under the car facing the front , under the drivers side coulmn, the hard line comes from the RHS of the column, across the top of the rack, does a bend upwards (its leaking here) & then turns into a rubber hose - I think this hoes then turns back to a hard line & runs across the front of the car & enters the Power steering pump by a banjo connection (bad description I know & Ill get some photos up later) Photo - engine bay RHS Under car looking up towards battery area showing leak at pass side Under drivers side looking at connectrion to rack Is this the power steering high pressure feed to the rack? Is it possible to make a repair on this line at all (using brake type fittings?) & is it all one integrated line or does it come apart where hard line joins hose? Ive had a search on ebay but cant seem to find any similar & vagcat seems to be down at the moment. Would a Passat or similar do or is it a Golf only part? Anyone have any spare parts or breaking a golf please & a part no would be great too
It's all one piece, ie; doesn't split at the metal/rubber join. Trip to the scrappers would your best bet. Some Ibizas and Toledos use the same lines, if there's a shortage of Mk3s.
Thats great thanks StuMc! Is it a bit of a git to try & remove & replace do you know? Plan to get the car up on a ramp & Ill soak the union in plusgas or oil & hopefully it wont be seized in place. Bit concerned that it may be a bit of a fiddle to route it onto the subframe & up into the engine bay but will give it a go at the weekend. If it comes to the worst Ill have to drive it to a mates garage/4post lift which is about 5 miles away. If I keep checking & topping up the fluid do you think it'll be ok? Ill have to try & not let it run dry & make the pump or rack squeal! Cross fingers for me! lol
Can be a bit of a tw*t, yes... 4 poster would make it much easier. Should be fine driving a few miles though. Just make sure it`s well topped up (maybe go a bit over to make sure), you`ll soon know if the pump isn`t happy, but I suspect it won`t be leaking bad enough to not make it that far.
It`s only mild steel. If you are reasonable with a welder, it can be fixed in situ. Replacement would be the preferred route, but I joined mine to another pipe by welding them together. So long as you get ALL the rust removed and ensure it`s a good weld, it`s fine. Just another option.
Cheers for that Ive got some Dextron 2 fluid to top it up with Whats the correct fluid to use on a Mk3 - Ive seen mineral & synthetic VAG power steering fluids on ebay Its the high pressure one 1990
If the cap on the reservoir is black then the red Dextron 2 is fine. If the cap is green (unlikely) then you'd need the green mineral stuff (at least I think that its mineral...)
Thats great! A mate from work gave me a hand to change the pipe & we got it done this evening. Bit fiddly but not too bad (a 18mm crowsfoot wrench on my 3/8 drive extension was handy since theres not a lot of spanner room between the subframe & bulkhead/tunnel) Topped it up with the dextron fluid & touch wood it seems ok!
