Harrris303
Active Member
Hi everyone, here's the story...
With the MOT coming up I thought I'd try and fix a leak from the steering box of my S3 lightweight which has been annoying me for a while. The leak was coming from the bottom end plate which seemed accessible from the wheel arch without taking anything out.
Firat off I removed the adjuster screw on the side and drained out the oil. Then I unscrewed the four bolts and removed the end plate, with the metal shims and seals. While it was off I had a look up into the box and poked about with a finger, at which point all the bearings fell out on the grass. I managed to find 9 of the 10 and was waiting until today to get a replacement, which I finally did.
So this evening I put it all back as carefully as possible, refilled with oil, tightened the adjuster screw like the Haynes manual said, then went to take it for a test drive.
As I turned towards the road the steering seemed smooth and fine, then as I turned out onto the road, almost full lock, there was a nasty creaking crunching sound which I could feel it badly through the wheel, and suddenly there was loads of play in the steering. The steering was still working just about so I managed to get the landy back off the road into the garden, but had to force it with more horrible crunching snapping noises, so probably did more damage in the process.
Now when standing still the steering wheel does still turn the wheels, but it just hangs loose for nearly half a turn before engaging anything. It feels like the problem might something higher up the column but it seems like too much of a coincidence when I've been messing with the box at the other end. Whatever it is it doesn't look good!
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to cover all the details. As always thanks in advance for any suggestions. Cheers.
With the MOT coming up I thought I'd try and fix a leak from the steering box of my S3 lightweight which has been annoying me for a while. The leak was coming from the bottom end plate which seemed accessible from the wheel arch without taking anything out.
Firat off I removed the adjuster screw on the side and drained out the oil. Then I unscrewed the four bolts and removed the end plate, with the metal shims and seals. While it was off I had a look up into the box and poked about with a finger, at which point all the bearings fell out on the grass. I managed to find 9 of the 10 and was waiting until today to get a replacement, which I finally did.
So this evening I put it all back as carefully as possible, refilled with oil, tightened the adjuster screw like the Haynes manual said, then went to take it for a test drive.
As I turned towards the road the steering seemed smooth and fine, then as I turned out onto the road, almost full lock, there was a nasty creaking crunching sound which I could feel it badly through the wheel, and suddenly there was loads of play in the steering. The steering was still working just about so I managed to get the landy back off the road into the garden, but had to force it with more horrible crunching snapping noises, so probably did more damage in the process.
Now when standing still the steering wheel does still turn the wheels, but it just hangs loose for nearly half a turn before engaging anything. It feels like the problem might something higher up the column but it seems like too much of a coincidence when I've been messing with the box at the other end. Whatever it is it doesn't look good!
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to cover all the details. As always thanks in advance for any suggestions. Cheers.