So my power steering pump is making an insane amount of noise. I did some looking around and found the obvious culprit. My passenger side boot is full of power steering fluid. It even cracked the clip on the end of the boot. So couple of questions.

1) Do I need to replace the steering rack? (I believe I do)
2) Steering racks are expensive any OEM suggestions?
3) I see there are a couple of different racks out there. I have a 2004 2.7T S-Line any ideas on part number?
4) Anything else to replace while I or the dealer is in there?

Thank you!

 

For your V6 there are 2 different racks listed. The ZF rack is 4B1-422-053-X for 959.14 plus core and shipping. The Koyo brand is 4B1-422-052-DX for 830.18 plus core and shipping. That is for the OEM Audi reman rack with boots and inner tie rods but not the outers. You may have to look at your rack to see the brand, or give me your vin number and I can see if etka tells me.

 

Thanks Jeff, according to the dealer (I gave them my VIN). I need 4B1 422 053 X which is the one with Servotronic.

So here's what I'm trying to understand. There are a lot of options out there for steering racks, but they all are reman (which is fine) however the prices vary widely.

For example, this place is $385.
2004 Audi A6 Power Steering Rack from Power Steering Pros

I'm trying to understand quality here. There are some big variances in price so does it matter? I talked to Keith today at Blauparts who recommends Precision or Koyo remans. Frankly, for $385 if I got 50k out of it, I'd be happy (that's what I got out of the first one).


Also, apparently there is a rebuild kit out there, 4A1498020A. Is this something that can be done by the DIYer?

 

That link looks like the same pricing as carsteering.com has where I've gone for racks on our used cars we get on trade. I will say for the price those aftermarket racks have worked well the used car department. That's about all I can say since I do work for a dealer, I should and do recommend OEM parts when possible. Of course I say that and then tell you I get aftermarket racks for the Camry we just got in trade, I guess I'm busted!

On that rebuild kit 4A1-498-020-A that is shown to fit 100 and 100q's from 92-94, A6 95-98 and the V8 from 90-94 so I can only tell you it's not looking like it would work on the steering rack in your 2004 A6. Especially since the rack # you provided shows fitting nothing in that year and model range, in fact it shows fitting 02-04 A6 and the 01-05 allroads. So be careful on that rebuild kit for the rack. Plus I have done a lot of work on cars over the years and wouldn't want to tackle that job myself, when I could get a 400.00 rack instead.

 

Thanks a lot Jeff, I'll certainly look at getting a used rack from Carsteering.com. Now if you could just come over and get the bolt out from the underside of the car...

Seriously, though, any suggestions for removing the underside bolt? Manual says lower the subframe and remove the left exhaust.. haha right, on my jack stands. That doesn't sound fun/safe at all.

 

I had an independent shop install a ZF rack they supplied for $1300+tax.

I wasn't able to convince my wife to attempt the job at the cost of a weekend (apparently, my weekends go for $500 a day...)

Unfortunately, the shop is having difficulties centering the steering wheel with the car. When I got the car back it was 15 degrees to the right off center, and now it's about 10 degress to the left after taking it back today. I will take it back again and remind them that it came centered it needs to leave centered. Any suggestions for me to pass along? The mentioned the rack didn't come with a centering pin (the screw with a point at the end). I'm wondering if this could be part of the problem.

Also, they don't have a digital alignment system, but I'm not sure why this would make the difference. Can't imagine cars driving around with off center steering wheels until that digital alignment system came along.

Thank you for your help!

 

They are probably taking the wheel off and turning it by one spline and torqueing the nut back down again. When that doesn't work because center is between splines, the shop should put it on the lift and center the wheel by turning the tie rod ends on both sides, an equal number of turns. This will rotate the wheel towards center if done correctly. If you drove the car on the lift and the steering wheel was perfectly centered, let's say the tires were 10 degrees to the right (which should be accurate if your wheel is 10 degrees to the left of center now in order for the car to track straight) then you'd get under the car, loosen the tie rod lock nuts and spin the inner tie rod on both sides so the tires were pointing straight. It shouldn't take too much but you'd have to spin both sides equally to keep your toe in correct. You said they don't have an alignment machine though, so what they did with the old tie rods was count the number of turns it took to get each one off the old rack, then spun them on the new rack the same number of turns. This is probably where things got out of whack. You'll want to get this aligned. For 1300.00 I'd hope that's included too.

 

They said they've aligned and the car drives straight down the road (probably one of the best jobs I've ever had done actually), but the wheel will be off to the left by 10 degrees. So it sounds like it just needs to be tweaked as you described and then problem solved? (Being careful to perform equal turns in the correct direction).

 

Here is a picture of the rack to your car. I just thought you will have to be careful on the direction you turn the inner tie rods or you will throw off your perfect alignment. This picture would be looking at the rack as installed from the front of the car, looking at if from the left front viewpoint. Since 7a is the inner tie rod and they are the same p/n's L to R we can assume they are both right hand threaded. So if you want to move your steering wheel 10 degrees to the right (clockwise) you will need to rotate the pass side inner tie rod lets say one turn so it spins IN to the outer tie rod. Then rotate the drivers inner rod one turn so it spins OUT of the drivers outer tie rod. This will maintain correct alignment but will move the inside of the steering rack just a little bit, which in turns rotates the steering wheel hopefully to perfect center.

I wanted to note this so you didn't spin the inner tie rods both into the outer tie rods, you'd be screwing up the toe in if that was done. And I wanted to check to make sure on the tie rods wasn't left hand threaded.

 

looking for someone in the north fl or south ga area to work on audi A6 - 4.2 qua, 2001.

please email me at
tarabp@aol.com if you are CLOSE????