HELP! Steering Rack Assembly Replacement

[nessanater]

Took it in to Firestone (just because I got the lifetime alignment there, not cause I'm a huge fan of theirs), and got it aligned, and asked them to tighten up the power steering lines cause they were leaking, tighten various other bolts that I couldn't tighten very well, check and top off the oil in the transmission. Now, all of a sudden when I left the shop, the Speedometer and Odometer are not working. WTF, how did the shop break those? I'm taking it back in the morning, because they said they didn't have time to get it back in today. I know it worked on the way there, cause I was only doing 50 on the interstate cause I didn't want to mess anything up. Oh, and the power steering pressure line going to the rack is leaking at the connection to the rack. It's a new line, on a new rack, with an o-ring in it. I asked firestone to tighten it up because I couldn't get to it very well, and they said they tightened it, but that it's still leaking and they don't know why. What a waste of time and money going there.

[larry mcgrath]

First off I would not think that a wheel alignment would have any effect on your spedo. All the trouble youve had swapping this rac ,are you sure you did'nt cross thread the fluid lines ???

[dlb]

check the speedo cable, it drives both the speedo and odo. i can't remember its path but you should be able to follow it from the firewall down to the trans. if it's fine down there, maybe it got yanked REALLY hard somehow and broke the plastic clip that holds it on to the back of the dash cluster. i suppose if you push/pull on it at the firewall, it should not have any play. if you can push/pull it, it has come off the back of the cluster. easy to remove the cluster and check but first find where it's broken or come unattached.

[Petros]

I once accidentally yanked the speedo cable on a corolla (forgot to disconnect it when I droped the trans to change the clutch). the cable looked fine but when I got it all back together it drove fine but no speedo nor odo. I remember the bit with the cable and than inspected it carefully, the swagged ferrule had slipped forward on the cable housing and it pulled the tip out of the end of the gear in the trans. I got another cable housing from the wrecking yard, but later realized I could have fixed it by slipping the cable back into the ferrule with some glue or something.

It seems unlikely the shop would have caused that, but anything is possible if someone messed up and caught a piece of equipment on the cable. But I do not trust most shops to do what they are supposed to, the few times choose not to do my own work I ended up taking it back several times to get them to do it correctly. I did not save any time and it only cost me money. Never again.

[nessanater]

I'm not sure I didn't cross thread the fluid lines, because I'm not sure what that means, so I will look it up. The speedometer worked on the way to the shop, I'm sure because I was looking at it on my way there, so I know I didn't break it. I'm not sure how they would have, but I'm sure it wasn't me. I'll check to see if I can locate that cable before I head back up there in the morning. Thanks for the help guys

[TURTCEL]

***"nessanater" said...I'm not sure I didn't cross thread the fluid lines, because I'm not sure what that means, so I will look it up.***

Cross threading means that you did not align the threads of the power steering line and the rack assembly correctly and when you tighten the line the threads of the line will be at an angle causing tightening to be very tough and it will damage the threads on the line or in the rack (or both). I would think the power steering line threads would get damaged brfore the rack because of the softer metal used for the line fitting. If this occurs then you have some repairs or replacements ahead of you. I would disconnect the hose and inspect the threads on the fitting and the threads inside the rack to see if that is the problem. I can't remember if thse have an o-ring on the hose fitting or if it is a ferel style fitting. But a possibility is that the 0-ring slipped out of place and did not seal properly or that the o-ring may have been damaged during install. Overtightening the fitting can also cause a leak if it is too tight and has damaged the mating surfae between the line and the rack too.

I would check these first before even considering pulling the rack out to sheck anything...obviously a lot of work if you go that route.

Good luck

Peace