Power Steering lines MK4

A few weeks ago the hard lines on my MK4 power steering rack failed. Garage told me these lines were non replaceable and that the entire rack would need to be replaced to the tune of $1500+.. As I'm sure I am not the first to encounter this, I just wanted to throw a quick shout out to EAA Engineering for offering a kit to replace these lines. It cost $90 and had it installed and on the road in less than an hour.

dpowell357 said:

Garage told me these lines were non replaceable and that the entire rack would need to be replaced to the tune of $1500+.

Click to expand...

I think $1500+ would be a bit excessive for a Mk4 steering rack replacement. You can buy a reman rack for under $200 bucks, or a brand new one complete with tie-rod ends for $400. I know there's labor, fluids, bolts, and an alignment on top of that, but still...$1500+ seems high to me.

But yes, those flex line replacements are a great alternative. I must take a look at mine next time I'm under there. I had one of those lines fail on my Beetle and it would pump all of the fluid out of there pretty quickly.

Must be a salt belt thing, I've never seen that happen. In fact, as rarely as I ever see these racks fail, I would be inclined to slap a used one in there. I sent four to the scrapper last year from wrecks. There was nothing wrong with any of them.

But a shop may not want to install a used one, I get that. Worldpac (a wholesaler) sells brand spanking new ones, original equipment, complete with tie rods, for less than $400 our cost. If they marked it up to a reasonable list price, say $650 or so, and charged the full book labor time of 3.9 hr (which is pretty high, I could probably do a couple in that time), and then charged for the alignment (toe set, which is NOT included in the 3.9 book time), plus the proper fluid, it STILL should not come to $1500 I wouldn't think.

I wish when people ask here about a price on something a shop gives, they would break it down line item parts and labor so we could actually SEE what all they are doing.

oilhammer said:

Must be a salt belt thing, I've never seen that happen. In fact, as rarely as I ever see these racks fail, I would be inclined to slap a used one in there.

Click to expand...

Very common Mk4 failure item here. Either the two little lines on the rack rust out and leak, or the main supply line rusts out and leaks.

Old Mk4 cars are often in the local classifieds for sale with rusted/leaking steering racks.

Yeah, I bet. I love the cold, and I really do not mind snow at all. But the road salt you guys have to deal with would turn me off as a car lover.

We get some here, but not 6+ months of it like some parts of the country. Our summers are awful, though. But at least that doesn't cause the cars to rust away. And our winter weather, when it does happen, is typically in small spurts. Small and short enough that I can avoid the salt altogether on cars I know would be more susceptible to the dreaded tin worm.

I do try and protect the undersides of everything I have though, just in case.

Great ones are the GM cars with the cheap nickle covered brake and fuel lines. Those things rust out in no time here. Nothing like having to replace the entire brake and fuel lines because of craptastic lines that GM used.

Oh and here is the braded line kit the above poster mentioned:
http://eaaengineering.com/products/mk4-golf-jetta-steering-rack-hard-line-replacement-kit

Only thing that concerns me is how bad the rack body is rusting away.

turbocharged798 said:

Great ones are the GM cars with the cheap nickle covered brake and fuel lines. Those things rust out in no time here. Nothing like having to replace the entire brake and fuel lines because of craptastic lines that GM used.

Click to expand...

Now we DO see that here. Quite a bit, actually. In fact GM vehicles are pretty rust prone turd bombs in general here. In addition to rusted out brake and fuel lines, we see rusted away fuel tank straps, sway bar links, sway bars , and of course countless holes in floorboards, rocker panels, fender wells, etc. Of course, if you look at the bottom of these cars new you can tell they are not built to be long lived. Everything is cheap and naked. But, the price reflects that. There is a reason why a Silverado can be purchased for less than a Golf.

Ha, you should see our 05 cavalier, rocker panels gone, tank straps been replaced, muffler hangers replaced FOUR times, subframe replaced once, even the belt tensioner rotted and broke. Bottom of doors gone, roof paint gone and rusting through and of course every flipping brake line keeps rotting and blowing out.

Now its due for yet another wheel bearing which is a PITA job because the hub rusts right into the knuckle and doesn't come out.

Getting really close to sending it to the junkyard...still runs great and gets 36MPG on regular gas which is the only thing keeping it from going there. Sad part it only has 150K miles. I'll probably yank the ecotec motor and 5 speed getrag before it goes there.

turbocharged798 said:

Ha, you should see our 05 cavalier, rocker panels gone, tank straps been replaced, muffler hangers replaced FOUR times, subframe replaced once, even the belt tensioner rotted and broke. Bottom of doors gone, roof paint gone and rusting through and of course every flipping brake line keeps rotting and blowing out.

Click to expand...

I know it was a totally different generation, but when I met my wife back in the mid-1990's, she was driving a 1990 2-door Cavalier that her mother had purchased brand new. To this day I don't think I've seen another vehicle rust like that thing did. I was driving a 1985 2-door Jetta at the time with 200k+ miles on it and it was in much better condition.

Anyway, in a couple years..., 1997 and 1998, I replaced every brake and fuel line on that Cavalier, the fuel tank and straps, and sanded and painted the rockers and the edges of the doors several times, and then the car started to fill up with water...lol. I pulled the wiper/cowl panel up, and there was a rust hole on each side big enough to put my fist through...lol. I had to cut out sheet metal to cover and fill the holes. Later on, after replacing a belt tensioner, I had the hood up with the engine running and I noticed bubbles blowing out between the cylinder head and block...lol. Thank god a head gasket was an easy job. We then traded the car in on a 1995 Golf. That Cavalier had only 112,000 kms on it, or about 70k miles. I had never seen a car fall apart and rust out like that thing did in 7-8 years. It really was awful.

lol I just was looking at my high pressure line for the jetta and was going to add that, the return line and resevoir to the list of items to be replaced.

Mine are rusty and the high pressure line has a very small leak. YOu can buy all the parts from IDparts, just need to call and give a VIN number as there we various versions to these lines.

http://www.idparts.com/steering-tie-rods-c-36_35.html

Speaking of rotting out GM brake lines, last spring I redid my wifes pontiac grand prix caliper to ABS module all the way around!!!! GM stopped making the rear section brake lines so I had to bend these up myself! Oh and they also stopped making the fuel filter strap, I had to custom make this myself also.

I hate the salt and my $40,000 truck is literally rotting away from it all. It sickens me that you spend a butt wad of money on a truck that literally turns into a pile of rust no matter how many times you wash it.