so I knew the racks were a bit if a pain, more so on the V8s with an exhaust each side and a quattro gearbox the size of a small horse, but what a ******* it was!
It hadn't been leaking for a long time (unless it had been filling the track rods boot up?) but all of a sudden one day driving the power steering pump got noisey and got out to check the level and found this
So got the car in the unit
And the 15 mile drive home and to the unit it had got a whole lot worse!
There aren't really that many bolts to hold the rack on, just some are impossible to get to.
the column was pretty easy. just one bolt
There a couple of bolts under the battery so all that bad to come out, but the rest are in here, above the downpipes and gearbox.
resorted to taking the whole corner off to gain a few mms more access
But 4 hours later and it's off!!
cross referenced the part numbers and found the one I needed, surprising I found I haven't got servotronic steering, which the Internet suggests the S6 should have.
Looks like they rebuild genuine racks as it had all the audi castings on it and part numbers the same as mine
refitting was a little trickier as everything just kinds of falls out when removal. I had to get a mate on the passenger side to look through the width of the car to direct me from the drivers side. I couldn't see a thing, he was directing was up a bit, left a bit, back a bit, up a bit :lmao:
And the same with the hose clamps, I was right underneith with zero visibility and he was up a bit, left a bit, rotate a bit :lmao:
filled it back up with genuine goodness
And the new one was all in and bled up, no leaks
I found quite a selection of parts and bolts that had fell down over the years and we're sitting around the steering rack and on top of the gearbox :lol:
And then back on with the corner and down on the ground done!!
refitting took about 6 hours. so 10 hours all in to remove and replace a steering rack, what a job!
on the plus side it turns out my old rack did have a bit of play in it which I'd never noticed. it's so much tighter and more precise now.