The steering rack is leaking. I have traced the leak as coming from the top of the pinion tower.
From the attached parts diagram is the part C39452 the seal for this part of the steering rack? (I know the diagram is for a V12 and mine is a 6cyl, but I would think the racks are the same). Is this seal common for all racks series 1 & 2?
And next question - I have always removed the steering rack with the engine out. Any difficulties removing it with the engine in?

 

John,

Not sure of across the range.

S3, and XJS use AEU1248J, and I can find no reference between your number and the AEU.... number.

I have done "long pinion" and "short pinion" seals and never taken notice, but they were mainly S2. I cannot imagine Adwest altering things too much, as their racks were very good.

Rack out is no big deal on a 6cyl, nothing to get caught up.

Refitting needs attention with the pipes, as cross threading is TOO easy, well, was for me in the very early days.

 

John,

Looking some more.

S1 rack seal kit = 12715.
S2 etc rack seal kit = RTC2393, or AAU1503,

I cannot find a link between any of them, so I imagine racks may be different across these early cars.

I always took the old seal to ReCar, "one of these please" and walked out, never thought to look at OE in those days.

 

Rack out from underneath is pretty straight forward. I had mine out for a rebuild earlier this year.

 

in my '84 I replaced the rack myself, not so difficult. Just raise and support the front of the car sufficiently and safely.

First thing to do is drain the pump and disconnect the hoses from the fittings carefully. then undo the tie rods, then the pinch bolt at the steering column shaft. The rest is obvious, the bolts at the brackets.

to center rhe rack, fit it back to the steering column shaft and mounting brackets; there is a hole at the center-bottom of the rack where you insert a nail or pin tool of more or less the same diameter as the hole and move the rack side to side until the pin goes through.

I used plumber's tape on the hose fitting threads.

 

The upper pinion seal is not shown in the parts diagram. C39452 is the lower seal. The upper seal is under the snap ring 11986.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave, I thought there must be an upper seal. What I am going to do is pull the pinion tower off my XJ12 "spares" car and have a look to see what is there.

And Clarke, I followed the long saga of your steering rack, and would not want to go through something similar. Must have been a relief to finally find the cause.

Thanks to all who posted.

 

If you are going to pull the pinion housing off, you might look at some comments and pictures of when I did mine. They may not be of interest or help, but they might.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...j6-lt1-211881/

Post 65 and 66.

Dave

 

Pretty good video from Living With A Classic on leaking power steering.


Hope it helps.

Jeff H

 

Many thanks again Dave. I pulled the pinion tower off the V12 chassis. Now I understand how this thing works. The top seal under the snap ring is merely to keep out dust - it is never going to seal in fluid. The 4 valve seal rings are supposed to keep the fluid where it should be. I like the "special tool" you used to get them on!
But before I pull the rack out I will try draining the pump and refill with Prestone. It may just work.

 

If a human can put something together, a human can take it apart and visa-versa. I think you'll find that the upper seal (it's called a seal in the shop manual) has its "lip" facing down toward the valve, indicating that it is meant to block fluid from that direction. There is another seal, just like it, below the valve with its lip facing up toward the valve. There is in fact a dust cover, merely a semi-loose chrome plate with bonded rubber I.D. that fits the pinion shaft snugly just beneath the lower steering column connection knuckle.

Take a look at the shop and parts manuals on Jose's website for better layout of the parts. He has an excellent site.

Dave

 

The Prestone fluid seems to be working. I drained 500ml from the system and refilled with Prestone. Went on a Jag club register run today. On arriving home there was not a drop showing after the car had sat 6 hours. I am hoping!