Yesterday I took my 2000 Mazda Protege ES in for its yearly state-mandated safety inspection. It flunked, because the rack and pinion steering assembly was leaking, due, according to the mechanic, to worn-out seals. They said the only way to fix the problem was to replace the whole assembly, at a co…

A complete rack from Rock Auto is about $380, new bellows are $12 Each and you need 2. So if it is leaking from the bellows it would be much cheaper to replace them. I am not familiar with your car but I don’t think your rack would need to be removed.

The cost of replacing the seals would be somewhere in the neighborhood of the cost of replacing the rack with a remanufactured assembly. But, I am reluctant to believe that the seals are leaking. I would get a second opinion. How is the fluid level in the power steering reservoir? Have you had t…

Maybe your mechanic is not very skilled at replacing seals. He dosen’t want to take a chance with follow-up visits by you if the job was not done properly. Maybe that’s why he’d prefer to replace the whole assembly.

Price the job around. You should be able to get it done for less than 1100 dollars. It’s really not feasible to replace seals in a leaking rack for several reasons. Generally speaking, you can’t even buy the seals needed as they are simply not available. Many of these seals are specialty hard seal…

Thanks, guys. I appreciate your inputs, which were quite helpful. To answer Keith’s questions: the mechanic told me the power steering fluid was down about a half-inch, which is what he said tipped him off to the leaking rack. He apparently added some fluid, because the level is right where it shoul…

You need to take it someplace else. This is a shop seeking extra work. If your rack was leaking enough to flunk inspection you’d be adding power steering fluid yourself regularly. A slightly low fluid level can come from something as minor as a seep at the seals. Try another shop.

Agreed…I almost had this same scam perpetrated on me at one of the larger national chains…took me totally aback when the guy told me I needed a new steering rack when I had never, ever added any fluid to the reservoir. I took it to my local independent garage and it passed with flying colors!

It’s easy enough to tell if a rack is leaking or not. Leaking seals point to the pinion seal at the steering shaft or the rack seals on each end of the rack housing. If the dust boot on either end of the steering rack appear to be oily then the rack seals are leaking. If you can’t inspect this you…

Leaking rack & pinion assembly

Maintenance/Repairs

keith March 15, 2011, 4:21pm 5

The bellows are just dust covers. If the rack is leaking from the ends, the internal seals are bad and that means a complete disassembly to replace them. Not many shop mechanics are experienced or trained to do this and the labor to do that could exceed the cost of a reman.

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Leaking rack & pinion assembly

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