How do I replace the High Pressure Power Steering Hose

I blew the high pressure hose on the Power Steering last week. It's a 2005 Passat TDI Wagon.

I've got the car up on stands, removed the left wheel and the wheel well liners that I can. I can't for the life of me get a socket or open / closed face wrench on that banjo bolt on the power steering rack.

Any suggestions? (Other than remove the motor, tranny, subframe, rack etc, etc, etc...lol.) I've done searches on the internet, here and at the 'Tex. Can't find any good information on getting to the banjo bolt.

Thank all.

you may have a problem that caused the hose to burst. Has this car always had the specified fluid used? Its known that use of other than the specific fluid causes catastrophic damage to the system, the rack being the most expensive.

thundershorts said:

you may have a problem that caused the hose to burst. Has this car always had the specified fluid used? Its known that use of other than the specific fluid causes catastrophic damage to the system, the rack being the most expensive.

Click to expand...

I've only had the car for 5000 miles, bought it in Spring. But it has 200K on the odo. I'm betting just a worn hose that finally gave way.

On the rack, can't remember which one is in front, but you can remove the front one with a socket, extension and ratchet. IIRC it was 21 or 22mm. If it is the rear one, you have to take the front one off first and then use a wrench to access the rear one. It was a pain with the engine removed but can be done with it in. Now if it was a V6 gasser, that's a whole different story....

Unless this hose was rubbing something, TS is correct that you may have another problem. Normally the worst thing about using the wrong oil is that seals on the rack leak.

vwztips said:

On the rack, can't remember which one is in front, but you can remove the front one with a socket, extension and ratchet. IIRC it was 21 or 22mm. If it is the rear one, you have to take the front one off first and then use a wrench to access the rear one. It was a pain with the engine removed but can be done with it in. Now if it was a V6 gasser, that's a whole different story....

Unless this hose was rubbing something, TS is correct that you may have another problem. Normally the worst thing about using the wrong oil is that seals on the rack leak.

Click to expand...

Low pressure is in front and 22mm. I need to get to the rear one. Good suggestion, thank you.

When it broke I was backing up. I immediately lost power steering and all the fluid drained onto the driveway. I hadn't had any PS symptoms / problems prior to this happening.

Looking in the compartment, all the fluid spray was contained to the side of the engine where the hose runs. I didn't see much on the rack, and I didn't see much on the pump. Like it blew, the sheath on the high pressure hose contained it but allowed it to drain down on to the motor mount and onto the wind tray on the bottom of the engine compartment.

I'm hoping just a hose and not something else that "caused," the hose to blow. Just trying to get the hose out for inspection at this point. Cross fingers.

Thank guys for your help so far!

it not a common problem on these cars as far as I know. Was this car ever pranged in that area?

thundershorts said:

it not a common problem on these cars as far as I know. Was this car ever pranged in that area?

Click to expand...

If you mean in an accident, no. No history of any accidents with this car when I did the CarFax and I haven't seen any indication of body work or panels being mis-aligned.

Just a quick follow up on my issue.

The best thing that I found to get the high pressure hose off was a 19mm hinged ratchet wrench from the wheel well and a second set of hands. I Didn't have to remove the front banjo bolt for this to work.



Things I tried that didn't work: Long extension with a flex adapter, Crows feet, standard wrenches.

In the end, we got the high pressure hose out, inspected it and didn't find anything wrong with it. Dug some more and found that one of the low pressure hoses to what appears to be a cooler, down below the power steering pump had a failed OEM hose clamp and had simply come off the connector. A clamp I had in my tool box and a $22 bottle of Pentosin later and she's all good to go!

glad you solved the problem. It would have been rare to find a deteriorated hp hose.

My son's 2005 Passat wagon has a pinhole leak in the high pressure hose about 3 inches up from the PS pump. It drains the fluid real fast. We don't see leaking signs anywhere else.



I know the OP said he got his hose out without removing or loosening the rack, we wanted to ask if this is really doable, anyone else done this, any other tips to tackle this?


Thanks to all

"installation is the reverse of removal"


Have you read that before?




We will let you know...

OK, got this job done. We undid the left tie rod end, took the plastic cover off to see the rack. Unless you done it before, it really is necessary to have a second person looking through the wheel well to guide your blind fingers. Take out the charge air tubes under the coolant reservoir to get there, get reservoir out of the way. Then it's an extreme reach with the fingers of the left hand, and the fingers are the only way to loosen the last threads and start the first ones going back in. Maybe there is a power assist tool could get in there, but the risk is cross-threading, and if you did that, you would want to crush it, thanks for the tip afarfalla!


My son plays mandolin, and he had what it took with the the left hand, so there's that.

vwztips said:

Now if it was a V6 gasser, that's a whole different story....

Click to expand...

W8 here for the win....