Hello
I was wondering if you can tell me what size star bit I would need to disconnect the fluid line from the rack so I can purchase.
Than You

 

OK. 6 years and 10K miles and I think my cheap rebuilt unit may be toast. Gave a hard tug on the steering wheel and felt something give and now no power steering. Tested all the fuses and modules and replaced the PS pump and hoses.... Grrrr...

 

99% of this job is super easy - dirty - but easy.
It's that damn coupler for the steering column that has turned the simple job into a complete **** show.
I managed to get it off, but after getting everything new on the car, getting the coupler back on the shaft has proven to be an exercise in frustration. I was starting to think there must be some sort of keyed insertion but after watching the video, on the bottom there is not. Like others, I can get it on only to a certain point. I tried putting it on with the rack loose and also with the rack tight. Tight is working better in this situation as there is enough play in the column to move the coupler over the splines even when the rack is tightened down. Knowing that there is no keyway on the coupler, I am going to use the OP idea of spreading the opening further. Since my car is a California car, cleanup was easy, and I used a bit of anti-seize on both sides to aid in the mating. Hasn't worked and it's clear that this is just a very close tolerance connection especially after the assembly had already been torqued down previously.
Before I finish up, I will post a couple of photos of this but wanted to add my value to the thread if I could.
There are also a couple of questions here before I finish since I had to leave the assembly from yesterday due to the coupler and it got dark outside and made it that much more frustrating.
So, the question was about alignment and alignment of components.
I started by jacking the car up and removing the front wheels. With the rotors exposed, I used a couple of zip ties to mount a red laser on each rotor and pointed them towards my white trailer parked directly in front of the car. I figured that any rotation of the rotor after making marks was ok as I could simply spin the rotor a little to place the laser dot in the correct vertical plane. What I needed was the horizontal plane so that I could realign the front end after I installed the new rack. I made a few indexing marks on the column and coupler too but that doesn't seem to have been a lot of help.
Prior to installing the new rack, I used a measuring tape to make sure that the rack was centered. I measured each side of the assembly and manually turned the splined shaft until the left and right sides were near an exact match.
Now, when the coupler is removed from the old rack and the steering is unlocked on the car, I noticed that the wheel falls dead center by itself. Not sure why it does that, but it does on my car. So, the first little mystery was that the coupler bolts, when this happens, line up in a very straight fashion with the top bolt pointing near directly towards the back of the car. This was not the case when I removed the old rack. The old rack had the top bolt pointing a couple of splines towards the driver side of the car (NA version). So, my assumption is that the rack had been replaced before and whoever did it, didn't have the wheel and rack centered properly and compensated for that with the tie rod alignment? Not sure but unless someone says different (like the rack isn't supposed to be centered), I am proceeding with this method. The only anomaly that has surfaced is that with the steering wheel completely centered as described, when I lock the steering, it locks the wheel at about 5 or so degrees pointing left, and I really don't remember if it was that way when I took it all apart. Maybe someone can confirm for me? I was able to witness this - and a few other things because I was able to get the coupler on halfway.
Once I finally get that couple on here today, I will use the previously marked spots on the white trailer to align the left / right to exactly where the toe was on the old rack. Since the car would drive itself completely straight and I have zero uneven wear on my front tires, I do not see the need to have it done at an alignment center if I can match it up.
Good luck to others doing this job. It is not challenging until you get to that coupler. Be ready to work that