Steering Rack

Scanman88GT · Post by **Scanman88GT** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:27 am

I have an 88 GT with 289,000 miles on it and the Power Steering rack is leaking like a sieve. I know that the steering racks have boots on them, but it's my understanding the the boots are to keep dirt and contamination out of the moving parts of the rack, not to keep fluid in.

I would guess that there are some internal seals or something that are just worn out and letting fkuid blow by them. Can anyone who has ever had their local mechanic replace their steering rack give me a ballpark idea of what it should cost? I don't have the time, experience or space to attempt this myself.

Thanks,
Scanman88GT

Post by **quad4berettagtz** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:35 am

Sounds like its time to get it replaced for sure. I'm not sure on a mechanic's cost, as my brother and I just tackled this last weekend. I will say that it is labor intensive, so don't expect it to be cheap...

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:43 pm

I did take mine to a shop and don't remember how much it was. It's never cheap at a shop. Well Mike, glad to see that you got it done. I checked your post and there was no update.

Scanman88GT · Post by **Scanman88GT** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:22 pm

I just picked mine up from the shop this afternoon.They charged me $596.04 to replace the rack and a return hose from the rack to the cooler, flush, refill and bleed the steering system and do a front end alignment.

It was nice to be able to take the car to a garage and have them get the job done in one day, with no b.s or bitching to me about what a pain the job was to do because of the age of the car ,yada,yada,yada.

The steering feels great. I'm glad I was able to work some O/T recently to be able to pay for this unplanned repair. Now I have to get busy degreasing this pig...there's power steering fluid and crud all over the firewall, the hood insulator pad, and anything else that was in the way.

Money pit Beretta · Post by **Money pit Beretta** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:36 pm

Glad to hear that the shop did it right. Like I said in the other post I had to have mine done by two shops. Man, all of that is going to be hard to get clean.

SuzukiGhostRider · Post by **SuzukiGhostRider** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:05 am

Damn.... $600 bones to put a rack in..... I guess that's why I usually have extra loot. I do all my work myself with the exception of warranty work (for obvious reasons) and a few other rare exceptions. Think of all the money I'm saving on labor! I'm glad the shop did a good job for you other than making a complete mess out of your engine bay. Or did it do that before they got to it? If they did it, I would DEMAND a free steam cleaning or free Degreasing or something. You pay that kind of cash you shouldn't have to clean up behind them too!

Scanman88GT · Post by **Scanman88GT** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:18 am

The rack was actually leaking like the Exxon Valdez all by itself for a couple of months before I took it in. It was just too damned cold around here this winter to deal with it any sooner. Not having the money to get it fixed before now also didn't help the situation much.

I'll just add degreasing the engine bay to my list of spring chores for the Beretta.

SuzukiGhostRider · Post by **SuzukiGhostRider** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:21 pm

LoL! Understood. At any rate at least fixed,right?

Scanman88GT · Post by **Scanman88GT** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:52 pm

It's all done and feels great. It's nice to not have to be buying Power steering fluid in the gallon bottles...lol. The degreasing will start tomorrow, if it's as nice out as it was today.

SuzukiGhostRider · Post by **SuzukiGhostRider** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:11 pm

Right on, you'll have to post pics of the cleaned up Exxon Valdez power steering spill....LOL!!

BerettaLove32 · Post by **BerettaLove32** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 3:38 am

I do pretty much all my own work but the steering rack was one repair I didn't mind spending $500 to get done.

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