steering rack - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Meir · 10-25-2013, 06:24 PM

hello guys.
i'm back, and i need your help.
my friend that i sold my car to, came over last night for a drink, and told me that he thinks he is missing some steering fluid, since he can hear the pump making noises when turning the the car.
we took it for a spin, and noticed the noise only on left turns. we drove the car back to my garage thinking to add some fluid and get it done. since he also needed an oil change, i offered him to take my car, and pick his ca tomorrow,after ill get it done. (after all he came for some drinks

)
so i put the car on the lift and opened some bears.
today, when i got back from work, i found a puddle of steering fluid on the front passenger side.

so what are my options?
a new rack is around 1K.
refurbished is 350-450. i can get one from ebay for 150-250.
beside the leak, the steering functions well.
is there a way for me to rebuild it myself?
the parts diagram shows a $4 sealing ring that goes on the rack (part 4).

is that simple as that? or there is more to it?
gonna do some reading on the Bentley book and the 101, but will appreciate any advice
thanks.
Meir

Jager · 10-26-2013, 09:14 AM

Meir,
As talented as you are I would attempt replacing the seal. I suspect you are in fairly uncharted waters here because I do not recall seeing an issue like this on the forum nor have I come across this problem (knock on wood) and I have over 254,000 miles on my Boxster.

Jager · 10-26-2013, 09:22 AM

Meir,
I used this to remove the ends:

Harbor Freight has them, or the full kit, at reasonable prices.

Meir · 10-29-2013, 12:29 PM

Hi Jager. thanks for the reply.
you might be right.
i found some DIY for almost any other Porsche out there except for the 986/996

the frustrating part is, that the steering rack is perfectly good (Except for the leak) and it looks like the seal can be access pretty easy:

it also looks like the steering rack on the car was replaced before. see the marks on it:

i already called Vertex on Saturday morning, and i can pick up a refurbished rack for around $400. by the time i got the part of the car (for core exchange), they were already closed, so i will have to go there this weekend.
was thinking since i have the time, maybe i should give it a try, and fix it.
the problem is, i was reading the parts diagram wrong.
part number 4 is a rubber ring that seats externally on the rack.
cannot fined the required seals for the rebuild, anywhere.

its a little bit strange that no one ever rebuild this thing as a DIY.
i found a lot of posts for rack replacement with new/used/refurbish ones, so the issue defensively exist.

anyway, i'm going to mess with it over the week, and this Saturday will replace it with a refurbished one. unless someone will chime in with a fix

and by the way, i got this tool also from HB. works great.