Power steering problems

[jontg428]

I was looking at rebuilt racks the other day, and the milano rack was a different part number alltogether. The fact that the 164 is a much wider car then a Milano or GT-V6 would mean that it would need a different rack alltogether. A rebuilt rack is about in the $450 range, I have found them as cheap as $300, but would be a little skeptical. A new rack for my car runs $860 or so from centerline, I think I will go with the reman unit! Good luck,

Jon

[trygve11]

No f'ing way...

[taliesin]

We need our heads examined The steering rack in my 164 should be mounted on velcro it has been removed so often.

[jontg428]

I am going to do mine in the summer, and yes I have heard that the racks on the auto cars are a weak point, but for manual cars, do they really give that much trouble? Any help on removing and replacing would be appreciated, have a good christmas everyone!

Jon

[Trav]

My rack/pump is leaking a bit too, and my pump howels when its below freezing. I thought I had seen a recomendation for a liquid sealer you add to the fluid somewhere on this BB. My search only lead me here. Does anybody know of this medicated goo for my ailing rack??

Thanks TD

[81gtv6]

I would be willing to try that as a last ditch effort to fix it.

I am pretty sure im going to go with greg gordon's method and turn it into a manual rack. $400 for a new one is really high, not to meantion if they are notoriously leaky this will be a permanent fix. The only thing im worried about is the difficulty turning, being FWD and an overall heavier car. I will be sure to tell you guys how it worked.

[jontg428]

Keep in mind the 164 is nose heavy, my guess is its 60/40 for the weight bias and it weighs in a good 300-400 pounds more then a milano or gtv-6, so I would still, despite the problems, keep a power rack. I have however, never seen an article on a manual rack and would be interested in seeing a person do an installation of one. Good luck!

[81gtv6]

Well i figure if im gonna spend $400 on a new rack i might as well try this before laying down the cash. I HATED the manual steering of my GTV6 at first, but I hardly noticed after driving it for a week or so. We will see how it goes, tonight im going to dig her out from under a foot of snow.

Does the 164 steering rack come out the same way the GTV6/Milano's does?

[Mottic]

Jake -

Try it without P/S - I'll bet you love it at highway speeds and hate it in town - I did. It is significantly more difficult than the GTV6. Just pop off the belt and drive it like that for a while - you'll get the idea.

The key to longevity with these racks (or any rack for that matter) is the boots. Often they crack underneath where it's difficult to see, or folks just miss them. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with their design or quality, rather they just don't take kindly to being unprotected and having crapped kicked up at them and buggering the seals.

Enjoy -

[Greg Gordon]

I think it will be fine if converted to manual steering. Sure it will be heavier but probably not too bad. My 64 Ford 500 has manual steering and my 13 year old son drives is with no problem. Of course it has a huge steering wheel with about a jillion turns lock to lock.

Trying the power steering with the belt removed will not accuratly represent the steering effort is the rack is converted properly to manual. It will be lighter when properly converted.

[jontg428]

Maybe in europe they had a base model without power assist, but not in the US. I think even if you had the proper ratio to make it light enough to bear around town your steering speed would be so slow as to make you think you were driving a truck. I would just save your pennies and stick with the power assist, it has a nice weight and feel to it and is not overboosted. Just some food for thought

[Grant]

Yeah, I agree. Power steering have fewer turns lock to lock than say, a gtv6, because of the assist. A gtv6 would be tolerable because it was designed to work without assist. Greg's truck is an example, the truck was designed for manual steering duties and has many turns lock to lock.

I've driven a few FWD V6 cars (Acura legends) with powersteering that stopped working. It really isn't very safe to drive in traffic, and I'm by no means a small guy. I'd be willing to be that the 164's in europe with manual steering were the twin spark variety, with less weight over the front of the car. If I were Jake, I would try to source a parts car or a used rack and just swap it if the leak cannot be solved. But ofcourse, I don't know how much of a hassle the 164 rack is to work with