MX-83 Cressida Steering Rack & Pump Leak

[petergoudie]

(1) My MX83 Cressida has a sizeable leak in the power steering rack. Has anyone repaired a steering rack? If so, did you have any problems?

I'm wondering if I can just replace a few oil seals on the end of the rack and possibly one the pinion shaft rather than buying an expensive kit and completely renewing everything. I’d rather do the minimum due to time constraints.

Are the oils seals on the end of the rack standard seals available from CBC Bearings or any normal bearing store?

(2) I might do the pump as well. Has anyone done this and found any problems?

Thanks.

[PlacentaJuan]

yes i have had the rack reconditioned before it was really easy; just drop it off then pick it up from the shop when it is ready. should cost less than $100 if nothing major is wrong.

you will find that once a seal has let go it is a sign that the rest of the seals will need replacement soon also; best do get the whole unit reconditioned at once rather than have to pull it out again in a fwe months if you do half a job.

i never had a problem with the pump though, they seem to be pretty hardy considering the shit i have put mine through.

[petergoudie]

Thanks PlacentaJuan. I don't know how you managed it for a $100. I'm in Sydney and the price I saw was $490.

Also, I'm not worried about removing the rack. My questions lie around taking the rack apart and fixing it myself. A rack repair kit is $90 to $100 so you did well to have labour thrown in as well. I was hoping I could just replace 2 or 3 ordinary oil seals and this is why I want to know what they look like so I might be able to go straight to a bearing supplier for the seals.

Similarly, a pump kit is about $25 to $30 so just on price alone it should be easy to fix (I guess two bearings, oil seal and gasket.

[Supra967]

my rack kit was about 2 or 3 ordinary seals and a few teflon rings. I couldn't see $160 worth of parts. $300 bucks to have the shop do it, dropped it off in the morning and picked it up in the arvo, all painted and looking nice. Thats for an MA70. From memory i think the whole rack had to come apart to get to the seals. I tried a rebuild and didn't seat the seals properly and it leaked straight away and destroyed the seals, so got the shop to put another kit in and its been fine.

Where is your pump leaking from? If its the low pressure hose, its just an o-ring on the fitting. You might be able to use the MA70 TSRM to help with a home rebuild for the rack, pumps are the same.

[petergoudie]

I wonder if the teflon rings are the main seal and the others just keep the dust out.

In regard to pump leak, I don't know if its the pump or not. The car is leaking heaps of oil, some red some black. I'm know the red is from the rack as the oil reservoir completely drains in two weeks or less.

Some time back I wrote on Toymods about leaking in in the area of the distributor. Everyone said it was the seal inside the dizzy and so I replaced it with a spare I had but I think this one is dripping from the o-ring although I replaced this about two years ago. Nevertheless I just purchased a genuine o-ring although it is dripping heaps in this area in fact too much for me to believe its all from the dizzy.

It's not the rocker cover gaskets as I replaced these as well including the rubber based washers that hold the covers down. In addition, I replaced the phillips head screws with hex bolts. These always slacken off and I've retightened them three times.

As I said, there is too much oil leaking that orignally I thought it might be exhaust camshaft seal but everyone on Toymods said no. Also, I don't think it is the front main crank seal as it just does not look like it plus the oil mess is too high up. It appears to be in the area of the steering pump. (However, in the last few weeks on Toymods there has been so much discussion on replacing front main seals that I feel left out that I haven't done it too).

In addition, there appears to be a few drops of oil onto the ground from the inlet side of the engine although as far as I know there is nothing to leak on that side. It could be power steering fluid that's been oozing around.

Also, I forgot to mention that some of the oil is finding its way onto the exhaust pipe/manifold and I can smell it burning (and some time it smokes). This oil is not necessarily from the dizzy onto the exhast manifold as oil from the rack appears to on the pipes at the side of the gearbox as well.

[Supra967]

The teflon rings seal the piston (so fluid can push one way or the other), then there is an oil seal either side to keep the fluid in.

Old car, old engine, seals will wear. Good chance a bit of everything is worn. Change as much as you can.

[andrew_mx83]

the pump on my gold one started leaking a few years ago so i jsut put on a spare that i had.

only accessory to require changing/fixing in nearly 7 years now. gotta love the yota's



dizzy may still be leaking from the internal seal mate the o-ring is not always where the leak is. internal seal is a bitch and ur better off just getting a s/h dizzy that doesnt leak.