1990 Mustang rack and pinion

I have a power steerring fluid leak coming from the rack and pinion.
Can just the seals or somethign be replaced in the rack? Is this hard
to do?

The dealer wants 217 bucks for the rack. Autozone wants 90 but I am
leary of autozone on some things.

Is this hard to do? I have never replaced a rack and pinion before but
have done about everything else.

writes:

>I have a power steerring fluid leak coming from the rack and pinion.
>Can just the seals or somethign be replaced in the rack? Is this hard
>to do?

You will not be able to do the seals yourself. You need a rebuilt rack. If
you want to try to put off the repair, you can try a stop leak product - they
usually don't help but usually don't make things worse either.

>The dealer wants 217 bucks for the rack. Autozone wants 90 but I am
>leary of autozone on some things.

Go with meridianautoparts.com if they carry your rack, they have decent
prices and excellent toll-free support.

>Is this hard to do? I have never replaced a rack and pinion before but
>have done about everything else.

Replacing the rack is not bad. Use jackstands because both front tires will
have to be removed and you will be under the car. There are two fittings to
remove that are usually rusted, so get the correct size line wrenches and
spray with plenty of pb so you don't round them off. Aside from that, you
disconnect the outer tie rod ends (little ball joints) by whacking the SIDE
of the steering knuckle until they drop out (or use a ball joint fork if you
are planning to replace them anyway). Once the fittings and the tie rod ends
are disconnected, you can remove the mounting bolts and anything else that is
in the way. On my car, the rack slid out the passenger side wheel well.

Take this opportunity to do sway bar bushings and anything else that suddenly
becomes convenient to access with the rack out of the way.

Once you have the new rack in place and hooked up, flush out your power
steering system until it runs clear by disconnecting the return line at the
pump and routing it into a pan, then continuing to add more fluid as someone
turns the wheel back and forth with the pump running. Existing contamination
in the system will take care of the new seals in a hurry if you do not do
this. It would be a good idea to use whatever power steering fluid that the
manufacturer of the rack and/or seals recommends; some seals will swell and
leak with the wrong fluid.

You will need a toe adjustment afterwards. Make absolutely sure that the
alignment shop DOES NOT twist the steering boots when they set the toe. I
have had two separate alignment shops do this to me; the second one went
unnoticed, and now I have a torn boot to deal with. When the boots tear,
contamination gets onto the inner tie rod from the outside, and destroys the
rack seal as it scrapes back and forth inside the seal. The alignment shop
may try to argue with you about this. Be adamant or you will end up with a
torn boot like me and your nice new rack will eventually be a leaker again if
you don't fix the boot in a hurry.

If you do notice a boot tear, the only thing that should be inside of it is a
bit of grease. If there is any power steering fluid, the seal is leaking and
leaks will only get bigger. If the boot is torn but it is still dry, replace
it immediately to prevent seal contamination. Clean the shaft thoroughly
with brake cleaner, then apply grease to the tie rod as you slide a new boot
over it to avoid the tie rod threads chewing up the boot.