Greetings from the frozen trundra! ( You American football fans will know
where that is.) I’m new to the list so here’s a bit of background, 82 xj6
series III that makes me smile every time I sit behind the wheel. I’ve owned
the car 3 years and believe it or not I keep a big white sheet of paper under
the engine and it’s never left a spot of anything behind, untill now…
Suddenly I’m getting a few drops of power steering fluid a day, seems to be
coming out of the top where the steering column goes in. My problem is my
mechanic tells me the rack should be relaced? Ok, no real problem yet,
untill I see they’re 400$ American. Seems a bit steep for a few drops. I see
I can buy a rebuild kit for 50 bucks. My question is, is it worth 350$ more
for a rebuilt one or can a weekend mechanic actually rebuild one himself?
I’ve got all winter (which should start any day now) to work on it but I got
my own horror stories about seemingly easy repairs, an air conditioning hose
still haunts me, so if anyone would like to offer advice on how easy it is…
Or tell me the theres a reason it cost that much to have someone else rebuild
it, I’d appreicate the imput. thanks Hoggone Just like it says, sold
my harley, bought a Jag…
Hi my finnish ? friend.
I would not give a Sh… for a few drops if the steering rack itself
works fine .
I would try an additive Like a powersteering conditioner , which is
sometimes doing the job and surprisingly seals those rings which get
hard over time.
If the rack - bushings are also bad then replace the whole thing. (they
are mostly bad)
The bushings are already $50 to $150 plus rebuilt kit = $ 200.
Then you would have still an old steering column (other worn parts might
give up over the next month)
replace!
But if everything is fine ( good handling , no play in steering ) try
conditioner.__________________________
Hartmut Beil - XJ6 85-Series 3
San Francisco - USA
HOGGONE@aol.com wrote:
Greetings from the frozen trundra! ( You American football fans
will know
where that is.) I’m new to the list so here’s a bit of background, 82
xj6
series III that makes me smile every time I sit behind the wheel. I’ve
owned
the car 3 years and believe it or not I keep a big white sheet of
paper under
the engine and it’s never left a spot of anything behind, untill now…Suddenly I’m getting a few drops of power steering fluid a day, seems
to be
coming out of the top where the steering column goes in. My problem is
my
mechanic tells me the rack should be relaced? Ok, no real problem
yet,
untill I see they’re 400$ American. Seems a bit steep for a few drops.
I see
I can buy a rebuild kit for 50 bucks. My question is, is it worth 350$
more
for a rebuilt one or can a weekend mechanic actually rebuild one
himself?
I’ve got all winter (which should start any day now) to work on it but
I got
my own horror stories about seemingly easy repairs, an air
conditioning hose
still haunts me, so if anyone would like to offer advice on how easy
it is…
Or tell me the theres a reason it cost that much to have someone else
rebuild
it, I’d appreicate the imput. thanks Hoggone Just like it
says, sold
my harley, bought a Jag…
… My problem is my
mechanic tells me the rack should be relaced? Ok, no real problem yet,
untill I see they’re 400$ American. Seems a bit steep for a few drops. I see
I can buy a rebuild kit for 50 bucks. My question is, is it worth 350$ more
for a rebuilt one or can a weekend mechanic actually rebuild one himself?
…
One well-known thing to try is some automatic gearbox additive (such as Wynns);
you add the correct amount (which is quite small; a tin of Wynns is enought for
a complete gearbox holding 8 litres of oil, and the power steering holds much
less). It causes the seals to become more flexible and to swell, curing the
leaks
for a while. (I think it only postpones the problem, not cures it, but others
may
be able to give you more information).
I’ve changed the seals on the rack pinion myself, and it was reasonably easy.
I’d guess from the manual that the same is true of the rack itself (indeed, I’m
going to try it soon). HOWEVER, you must keep everything REALLY clean;
and the Jaguar manual advises something along the lines of
“This work should only be entrusted to an experienced engineer”; something
mentioned nowhere else, so they clearly think it’s easy to do it badly.
Hint from my late farther: nail some old newspapers to the workbench;
when you need a new clean surface, tear off the top sheet or two.
I’ve not yet tried it, but it sounds like sense.
Cheers, Paul Gover.
1981 XJ6-III 4.2