About 3 to 4 years ago, my power steering started leaking slowly, then more. The steering still worked fine - like I could spin the wheel with 1 finger at a dead stop, but the puddle was messing up my driveway.

I initially had Joey the Jaguar guy replace the parts that leaked the most, some hoses and the pump. At that point the leaking slowed, but the power steering barely worked at low speeds, making parallel parking almost impossible. I could rev the engine a bit (with my left foot on the brake) and get enough power to get in and out of parallel spots, but it was an art not to ram the car in front or rear. At driving speeds, the power assist is fine. I asserted to Joey that he must have given me a bad (probably re built) pump. Joey claimed that the pump was fine and that the problem would go away once we replaced the final component (the Rack) that was still leaking.

Lived with it about a year and got the Rack replaced. No leaks at all now, but the power steering at slow/no speed is still bad (perhaps not quite as bad, but perhaps I'm just used to it).

I've seen a couple posts referring to a variable power steering module, but I'm thinking that is is probably a bad pump since it happened right when it was replaced.

Has anyone else seen this problem, and how did they diagnose or fix it?

I was thinking I'd buy another pump and replace it, but that is a very trial and error approach.

I've had this car for 10 years and love the look and how it drives. I got it in 2005 out of a basement of a guy that passed away that lived next door to a friend of mine. I bought it from the estate (which is a pain). It had been sitting in the basement garage in an unheated house in Atlanta for 3 years. Lots of humidity. It had a light coat of mildew all over the interior, so as you would expect, many of the dash warning lights were on just from the humidity and corrosion. Took me 18 months to finally get all the warning lights off.... At that time it had 45k miles and now it is at 115K.

It's a 95 VDP with a brand new paint job so I'm hoping to fix this problem (along with a few other minor ones) and drive it for another 5 to 10 years.

I probably won't tackle the pump replacement until the summer, so I'm hoping I'll get some more informed ideas before then.

 

Mine leaks a little bit, as of fairly recently... I've noticed that when I'm a little low on fluid, before it starts making noise, that it gets hard to turn at low RPM...

I'm no expert, but if you're sure the ATF fluid is full, then looking at the pump would be a good place to start.

 

I've been dealing with these same issues in ever increasing doses. First it was a leak and poor power, I used the Lucas oil stop leak and that helped a lot. Then the small leaks happened and were helped by just tightening the hoses. My major issue is very little power when I back out of my driveway in the morning on start up, it seems fine when it gets going. To my knowledge everything is stock from 1997 and nothing has been replaced. I got mine with 82K in the fall of 2013 and now have 103K miles. I've been wondering about rebuilding my pump? Power (steering) to the people!

 

Rack and Pinion work by pump pressure on ATF via steering pump, leaks can cause lost of pressure to push fluid via/to piston rod inside the rack.
Moderate skill required to refurbish the rack, all the parts inside are available (including the piston rod) Same as working on an automatic transmission, a clean work area is a must.

Steering Pump: there are only 3 replaceable gasket and an oil seal, (also available in the market) the inside metal blade may have cause abrasion on the body and may cause pressure not to reach or attain the BAR needed, it is a cause for hard steering on low RPM.

Servo relay: located on the driver side Lower A pillar side board, check and make sure it is working, this is a relay and witch control that reads the speed sensor and dictates the pressure on the system, the faster the speed the harder the steering, lower the speed and you get a higher pressure/lighter steering.

 

parts needed to refurbish rack n pinion

 

Nice! Thank you.

 

I had all these issues and also let it go for several years. Finally, last summer I had all the hoses replaced and that resolved it. The High pressure hose was kind of expensive, I think around a $100, the low pressure hose was cheaper. You may want to try that before doing the rack

 

Thanks cool
I've had hoses, rack and pump replaced. I'm guessing either the Pump was a bad rebuild or it's the servo relay.

Is the relay a cheap thing to replace or is there a way to fix it? How would you check it to see if it is working correctly? Seems like I should try that before replacing the pump (Again).

 

All parts have a way to check and all parts can be refurbished. for the servo relay, you can take it off and at idling speed if the steering gets heavy then you know it is working. For rack n pinion it is easy to detect if there are leaks, slide open the rack end boot and see if there is signs of fluid. For hydraulic hoses, if there is no sign of deterioration or leak it would be best to leave them alone. Power steering system using hydraulic fluid is too easy to maintain and fix as compared to electrical steering.

 

Kind of late to this thread, but could you ('cool') please label the parts shown in the attached pictures?

I wish to purchase everything I need before taken apart the car.

 

I am not sure on the circular screen and electric module but I got a rebuild kit at MotorCars Ltd in Houston (you are in Canada?) - their website lists it as "Steering Rack Seal Kit".

It is a bit of an intense procedure and I did it several years ago without the help of detailed instructions. There may be some better tutorials out there by now.

I tried the SNG Barratt site, as they are sponsors here, but could not find a seal kit.

By now, though I am having to put about $10 worth of Lucas Stop Leak in mine at about 3-week intervals -- I am not really sure yet where the leaks are.

I saw some of that green UV dye for engine oil to spot leaks, I may look and see if they make it for spotting power steering leaks.

 

Ah. Thanks for pointing me to the website vendor (yes I do live in Canada).

I clamped one of the hoses that fed oil to the rack and that stopped the leak from there but the rack itself still leaks. I am planning on dissecting the rack soon to see what's up. Fingers crossed.

 

use a hydraulic pressure gauge, check the BAR pressure, pressure gauge line attach in between the pump and the rack and pinion hydraulic pipe located underneath the car cross member On pump pressure rating, check your pump (brand plate attach to the pump assy., it is indicated there)

 

sorry i do not visit this site often, if you need any info on the powersteering of X300 just e mail me.

On the pictures posted sometime ago, No.1 steering servo (located on the rack and pinion stem. No.2 screen filter (located inside the servo, between the stem and the servo itself) filter can be serviced and clean with mild fluid, contact cleaners and the like) or use a low pressure air to clean No.3 repair kit for rack and pinion, they should cost you around $50, be careful as there are two types of repair kit.

 

did you purge the whole system to rid of air within the system?

 

Make sure to purchase the correct repair kit first (there are two type of repair kit for X300) and work in a clean environment. indicate your e mail if you need an exploded view/diagram of the whole rack in order to know the sequence on how to dismantle and assemble the whole rack.

 

ZF steering rack n pinion diagram
CAUTION !
Proper disassembling and extra careful and clean environment in assembling is a MUST. ALWAYS USE PROPER TOOLS, it is too easy to break things outside and inside the rack n pinion. Looks easy and yet complicated, surgical accuracy is the key to a good remanufactured rack.

 

Thanks for your reply.

What are the two different types of repair kits?

 

No worries. Will do.

Thank you for labeling the parts.

 

Hi all,

Still working on the steering rack. But I have run into a problem: I can not seem to remove the outer tie end rods. The nut that is located beside the outer tie rod does not move at all (maybe because it is actually be fused with the outer tie rod ball joint?)

I should mention that I have already removed the steering rack from the car. Should I reattach the rack and try to remove the other tie rod or can anyone show/tell me how to remove the outer tie rods without replacing the steering rack back onto the car?

Any help will be surely appreciated--my hands are starting to hurt now!

Kind regards