Power Steering Leak

[roni024]

I brought my wife's car to the local dealership yesterday for a NY State Inspection. It passed, but the service manager informed me of a leaking seal/bushing on the steering rack at the tie rod. Her car is a 2012 Passat SEL (non-TDI... I know, I know). With only 39k miles on her odometer, this seems like a premature failure. Of course, her warranty expired at 36k.

Has anyone else had any issues with the rack leaking? Or, has anyone had good luck getting VW to agree to a good will repair? I'm planning to call them, but I'm not exactly sure how to tactfully go about asking them to cover the repair.

If VW won't cover it, I'm planning on dumping some stop-leak in there and pray that solves the problem. The service manual shows steering rack replacement as a big job requiring dropping the sub-frame. That's something I'm not really looking forward to doing.

 

[TurboDieselPoint]

The TDI's have a completely different electric steering rack, so you are probably asking the wrong crowd here. You might want to ask the Passat section at VWvortex.

Good luck!

 

[roni024]

I understand about the difference between the electro-mechanical and hydraulic racks, but someone here should be able to give some pointers on dealing with VWoA. I'll post at vortex too.

 

[banshee365]

Do you have an official diagnosis and service ticket for the power steering leak from the dealer? You'll need that before ever calling VWoA. When the dealer diagnoses it they send a message off to VW about coverage and they get back fairly quick on whether they will cover it or not. They may initially deny you any assistance. That is when you call VWoA. You may get lucky and have them cover it without you contacting corporate but I sort of doubt it with your issue as it's not common and can be caused by hitting a pot hole or curb in their eyes, but I'm not VWoA so take that with a grain of salt.

The tips I can give you for VWoA is that their main focus is customer retention and keeping you in the family. If you call them screaming this is your last VW and what a POS and all that they'll simply ask you to shove it as they have already lost you. Speak to them as an enthusiast, VW cult member that hopefully has owned several VW's prior to this one. They have a vested interest in keeping you happy if they feel you'll buy another vehicle one day. A power steering rack is a drop in the bucket for them cost wise compared to the sale of future vehicles. They have several options when it comes to out of warranty coverage. They can obviously not help at all, or cover it completely and everything in between. They can say they'll cover the part, you pay labor. They'll cover labor you buy the part. Or they'll cover 50%, 75% or something of the whole ticket.

I wouldn't use stop leak, bad idea. I wouldn't use anything other than the recommended fluid for each application.

Dropping the subframe isn't as hard as you may think. If you plan to do it yourself you would need new TTY bolts as well as lower ball joint nuts and VW special tool T10096 to give you the best shot at not needing an alignment. The subframe can be reinstalled by eyeballing the witness marks left by the original bolt heads but using the alignment pins will yield the most accuracy.

 

[tdiatlast]

^^^I totally concur with this advice. However, before calling VWoA, I'd make certain your "enthusiast" status is well known at your local dealership, your continued interest in owning a VW, your presence on various forums, etc. etc. I'd work up the food chain at the dealership. Yes, you're out of warranty, but really not by very much. I'd lean on the dealership to help with the cost of the replacement...IF in fact a replacement is necessary. 39k is very young for a rack replacement.

Question for experts: Is it normal for a VW hydraulic rack to leak/seep with age? My (now sold) 2005 Toyota Tundra rack was seeping, shop wanted to replace it. I kept it for another 25k miles, 3 years, never added PS fluid. Just curious.

 

[roni024]

Thanks for the info. I think I'll hold off on contacting VW right now though. It seems like they may have their hands full...