240 Estate Steering Rack

Can anyone give me an idea of how difficult it is to replace my steering rack?
Some tips would be most helpfull
Also i have noticed some oil leakage where the autobox meets the engine, any ideas on what could cause this?

Thanks in advance
Barry
240 SE Est 1993

[cbyard]

From the description in Haynes, it doesn't sound too bad, though there's a warning about airbag equipped cars to disconnect the battery and lock the steering wheel in the straight ahead position.

You need to mark the column to rack coupling before removing the pinch bolt, then loosen the wheel nuts, jack up the car and place on stands, take the front wheels off, separate the track rod ends from the steering arms (splitter tool needed here unless you're nifty with two hammers), remove undertray for access, disconnect and plug power steering hoses, remove two U bolts clamping rack to cross member, separate the rack to column coupling and remove the rack complete with track rod ends.

Replacement is a reversal......!

Don't forget to count threads when removing track rod ends for transfer to new rack and screw them on same number of turns to provide approx tracking until you can get it reset properly.

Hopefully the old setup will have been centred correctly (did the car travel straight with the steering wheel centred?) so with the new rack centred and the steering wheel straight when the coupling is remade you should be OK........!


Oil leak-
is it engine oil?- could be from rear crank oil seal or running down from further up.

or auto transmission fluid?- torque converter or gearbox.

Either way, stopping it could be problematic (ie difficult/expensive). If it's liveable with in terms of how much do you need to keep topping up, then.......



Best wishes

Chris

[Clifford Pope]

I've just done this job. As Chris says, it is quite straightforward. Yes, I marked the couplings, but then found on reassembly that they would only go on in one position anyway, because one of the splines is a dead one that has to match a corresponding slot. Models may vary I suppose.
I believe there were different models of rack used. I don't know how interchangeable they are -I was swapping racks from cars of the same year.
There is a procedure for bleeding the system, and it would be worth flushing out the pump and reservoir at the same time.
The only tricky bit is getting the splines to engage as you push the rack into place. First time, I bolted down the rack and then found there was not enough movement along the splines to engage , so had to unbolt again.

Good luck