Rack and Pinion boot leaking P.S.F.

[exwhyze]

I just bought an 86 mkII from a used car dealership yesterday, everything looked fine. When I got home and turned into the driveway, I noticed a bunch of power steering fluid all over the ground, running up to the drivers side of my car. I looked under it and saw power steering fluid leaking out of the boot. It only seems to leak when I turn it all the way; is this going to be a long and hard fix? I lost the tip of my finger on my right hand, so I'm on workman's comp, but I need to get my car fixed ASAP so I can get to work when my finger heals up. I'd rather not be investigated for insurance fraud because I was caught working on my car.

[Negative Boost]

Couldn't tell you whats wrong with the rack (might be a seal), but its fairly easy to take out. Just undo the 4 bolts on the crossmember, unbolt the tie rod ends from the steering arms (knuckles), then loosen the bolt in the steering shaft and she comes out fairly easily. I'd say it needs a rebuild though. If you can take it out yourself and take it to a shop where they can rebuild it, you'll save yourself a bit of cash.

[CarFreek]

The high pressure hose could have failed or be leaking-the hoses bottommost point is righ above boot-If hose failed on under side, you wont see fault-This happened to me, and I almost had rack out before I noticed actual cause-otherwise, rack seals are blown

[zank]

Adding a location in your profile might help get someone locate someone close to you and see if they are willing to help.

[brandon82mk2]

rack seal .my car is an 82 with an 84 rack and its starting to leak out of the boot also

[exwhyze]

I got sick of trying to figure out what exactly could be leaking, so I bought an entire rack and pinion setup. Taking it off was one of the biggest pains in the ass, surprisingly, the line that screws right into the PS reservoir would not come off at the rack, and trying to take it off with a wrench caused the entire nut to strip I ended up buying tie rod ends and a replacement line for that, the rod ends were so rusted onto the rack that I just said screw it.

At least I'll be able to steer again. My question now is, is a front end alignment easy to do by yourself or am I going to pretty much have to pay a mechanic to do it?

[wonderwhy]

Save yourself and pay. Unless you have access to an alignment rack. That would save you a bit of money.

[exwhyze]

my mom took my car in for the front end alignment because she wanted to drive my car, and after it got home and i drove it, it had a nasty pull to the left while im on the highway, and a loud "clunk" noise when i turn right or hit a bump.

it sounds like throwing a small stone at a two-by-four.

my friend who is better than me at cars says that its either a busted tie-rod end, or the lower ball joint is fucked, but im wondering if it was the garage's fault. i mean, i just replaced the tie rod ends, and i put everything in right, and didn't mess around with them afterwards. the last person to touch anything with the rack and pinion setup was whoever worked on my car. i tried tightening the lugs but they wont tighten any further.

any ideas as to what could be the cause of the mysterious clunk?

[CJSREDPRA]

Good grief!?!?!?!??????

Who did the front end alignment??? These guys sound like morons!!!!

Besides doing the alignment, they should have test driven it. If the car is now pulling, these "TOOLS" should have diagnosed & corrected the problem.. Or given you an estimate of what needs to be replaced.

Take the car back to these dingbats... Or take it to another shop.

And uhmmm.... NO........ Tightening lug nuts will not fix a wheel pulling problem.

Here's another simple thing to check.... Tire/Air pressure.

[Tire Shredder]

if you swear you installed the parts correctly and creased the new ends, I'd be taking it back to that shop and getting them to fix what's required....that doesn't sound right at all.