[tankd0g]

Anyone know if you can buy replacement seals for the steering rack where the steering colum attaches to it? Mine is leaking pretty bad from that area but if it means buying a whole new steering rack I'll just keep putting fluid in it.

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

Good question. Wouldn't you need to remove the whole rack anyway to replace those seals? So, the labor would be less of your time to drop in a rebuilt rack than replace the seals, wouldn't it? I just checked Autozone for my '97 rack and it's $250.00. Not cheap but I would suspect/expect all the internals to be like new for that. I'd hate to do the seals and later have other problems inside it and have to pull the whole thing out again.

 

[tankd0g]

Good question. Wouldn't you need to remove the whole rack anyway to replace those seals? So, the labor would be less of your time to drop in a rebuilt rack than replace the seals, wouldn't it? I just checked Autozone for my '97 rack and it's $250.00. Not cheap but I would suspect/expect all the internals to be like new for that. I'd hate to do the seals and later have other problems inside it and have to pull the whole thing out again.

So far refilling it seems to be working fine so I'll go with that I put some stop leak in it and it seems to only be wet around that area now rather than dripping. Since I have to put a liter of oil in it ever two weeks one more fluid isn't going to kill me. Ah the joys of high milage.

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

Good, those conditioners/sealers sometimes work miracles. I put some Lucas power steering seeler in my Vette a few weeks ago because the rack was making groaning noises and it cleared that right up.

 

[superslim]

this sound like a problem i had with my 97 rav. A leak by the rack costed me 1000 + at the stealership. I found out that i needed to replace the RETURN LINE TUBE ASSEMBLY 54.00. What a costly mistake for me.

 

[ecoravman]

This must be a common problem of the seal where the steering shaft enters the rack; my '99 developed a leak at that seal at 95,000 miles. I tried different leaks stops that supposedly swell the rubber but they don't work. The only one that works is the thick Lucas steering leak stop that almost makes the leak go away because the fluid is so thick (one pint every eight months as opposed to every month). I hate even this leakage, but unless you can afford the time to pull the rack yourself and buy the seal and replace it, shops will only replace the rack ($800 at Midas). The only problem with the thick fluid is a groan at startup in cold weather until the fluid goes past some valve (had this also in Canada in the winter with the regular Toyota fluid).