Hiya, I need to replace the steering rack on my Audi a3 8p the red steering wheel light is illuminated on the dash and there is no power steering for about 20 minutes, would I be better of buying new or a refurbished might be a silly question, does the new steering rack need to be coded thanks
Its electrical power steering not mechanical.
As it happens, I'm having my steering rack replaced tomorrow morning. I've gone for a reconditioned genuine GEN 2 rack from ACS Power steering. Depending on what rack you have fitted to your car and what rack you are replacing it with, there will be slightly different coding procedure.
The standard replacement that Audi will fit to the 8P models, are Gen 3 racks. If you have agen 3 fitted already, then fit a replacement gen 3. If you have a gen 2 fitted already (generally pre-2008), then you can either do a straight swap with a gen 2 or you can fit a gen 3 instead along with an adaptor loom (apparently gen 2 cables aren't long enough to reach the new socket location on a gen 3 rack), then do the coding.
From what I understand, if you are fitting a gen 2 rack, then you have to perform the basic settings and adaptations for it to work correctly once fitted. Otherwise it will be all heavy an not nice to use and if the sensors aren't calibrated correctly then other things may not work correctly, as they rely on some of the steering-related sensors. Apparently, this can be done by VCDS, calibrating the steering angle sensors and all for a Gen 2. If you are fitting a gen 3 rack, then you have to perform the basic settings and adaptations and apparently flash the rack. The hassle-free way of doing this is to use a dealer level system called ODIS, which some independents do use, so you don't necessarily have to visit a dealer for this work.
@DJAlix can do the coding work for you!
Hope this helps! I'm replacing mine because I have a yellow steering light (faulty torque sensor).
