Difficulty Reinstalling The Power Steering Pressure Hose

[mickw368]

Hi guys,
Just want to share a recent fight I had when replacing the power steering return pipe. I am fortunate enough to have a power lift in my garage so I must admit I wouldn't have even thought about trying this job on axle stands! I looked at the job, looked like about 1 hour perhaps two..... This turned into a 3 day epic.

Firstly I attempted to remove the lower 19mm nut from the steering rack, the nut was in good condition and looked easy enough. As soon as I put my spanner on it it started to round off, I immediately thought STOP!!! I was replacing the line anyway so I'll just cut off the pipe and get a socket on it. I cut the pipe and grabbed my ratchet.... No...Not moving. OK I thought, just grab the 1 meter long 1/2 inch drive strong bar and that will shift it... Yes it started to undo no problems. So flat at a time I continued to undo the nut which finally fell off to reveal all the threads had stripped from the soft aluminium nut and been left behind in the steel rack.

So, next phase was to try to remove all the broken threads from the rack inlet. I grabbed a set of picks and slowly and carefully removed as much of the debris as I could using a lot of WD 40 to wash away any debris. When I was finished it wasn't perfect but there was some kind of threaded area to screw into.

Next phase was to fit the new servo return pipe... This turned into a game of "Lets test Mick's patience to the absolute limit". No matter what positions I tried when trying to feed the new pipe over the rack, beside the pressure pipe, I just couldn't seem to get it anywhere near the rack connection.

I did the right thing and left the job for a while until I recovered my calm. This I repeated about 3 more times until I really got angry... I grabbed the pipe and ignoring all possibilities of doing some damage I just rammed it and pushed as hard as I could.... Amazingly the pipe got into nearly the right place! I left the car, thanked my lucky stars and left the easy job of reconnecting the pipe until the following day..

The following day I went to connect the pipe to the rack and I realised that it had to be absolutely straight before attempting to screw in the securing nut. Again, this turned into Ben Hur... I spent most of the morning juggling the pipe, in some places I had to very gently bend it piece by piece until eventually I was satisfied that the pipe was straight enough facing the rack. I now had to start the nut very carefully and I used three different 19mm spanners to get the nut back on in tiny tiny movements, I actually cut the head off a 19mm spanner and used it in conjunction with a steel bar against the chassis to slowly tighten the nut back in. After sweating for about an hour I finally had it tight enough that the pipe didn't move, all the time I was scared to overtighten it and round off the already weakened threads.

I finally filled up the system and looked for leaks... NONE a miracle, I then started the car and turned the wheel in both lock to lock and amazingly the union doesn't leak..

The morale of the story is... Take your time, try to have patience, invest in crow foot spanners. I would not do the job again. The reaction between steel and aluminium is always a nightmare, I am learning that you'll be really lucky to undo this type of union in a 22 year old car. Thanks for your patience in reading. I hope you solved your rack problems.

[oragex]

Very correct. These very fine threads need the hose/pipe to be kept absolutely perpendicular when installing them otherwise it won't catch. Same thing with the hose at the caliper - this one also keeps leaking in the process. Would only add that on the SMI racks (2001-2004), all four lines are absolutely jammed at the rack box.

[Blacklab467]

It's a nightmare job for sure! Crowfoot wrenches are a must. My PS pressure line was barely finger tight and didn't leak at the connection. Glad you got it done finally, and I agree that I wouldn't be interested in doing another one.
Your story reminds me of a recent job I just did on my Duramax, changing 2 of the glow plugs. Very straightforward job that should take less than an hour if all goes well but............if you break one off when removing it you will have to take the cylinder head off to get it out which may require removing the cab of the truck! My hands were shaking as I was turning the old glow plugs thinking of all the horror stories I read about on the Duramax forums of people snapping off glow plugs!

[abscate]

It is faster to hang the engine on a hanger, anddrop the steering rack and subframe.

You can actually bench install the lower power steering return hose and thread it through attached to the rack.

The pressure supply hose is much easier to thread as it is Steel on steel

[oragex]

My hands were shaking as I was turning the old glow plugs thinking of all the horror stories I read

Yep, I think we all know that feeling - not necessarily about plugs but about stuck bolts in general

[cn90]

This video should help you...

[br0dy519]

Hi guys,
Just want to share a recent fight I had when replacing the power steering return pipe. I am fortunate enough to have a power lift in my garage so I must admit I wouldn't have even thought about trying this job on axle stands! I looked at the job, looked like about 1 hour perhaps two..... This turned into a 3 day epic.

Firstly I attempted to remove the lower 19mm nut from the steering rack, the nut was in good condition and looked easy enough. As soon as I put my spanner on it it started to round off, I immediately thought STOP!!! I was replacing the line anyway so I'll just cut off the pipe and get a socket on it. I cut the pipe and grabbed my ratchet.... No...Not moving. OK I thought, just grab the 1 meter long 1/2 inch drive strong bar and that will shift it... Yes it started to undo no problems. So flat at a time I continued to undo the nut which finally fell off to reveal all the threads had stripped from the soft aluminium nut and been left behind in the steel rack.

So, next phase was to try to remove all the broken threads from the rack inlet. I grabbed a set of picks and slowly and carefully removed as much of the debris as I could using a lot of WD 40 to wash away any debris. When I was finished it wasn't perfect but there was some kind of threaded area to screw into.

Next phase was to fit the new servo return pipe... This turned into a game of "Lets test Mick's patience to the absolute limit". No matter what positions I tried when trying to feed the new pipe over the rack, beside the pressure pipe, I just couldn't seem to get it anywhere near the rack connection.

I did the right thing and left the job for a while until I recovered my calm. This I repeated about 3 more times until I really got angry... I grabbed the pipe and ignoring all possibilities of doing some damage I just rammed it and pushed as hard as I could.... Amazingly the pipe got into nearly the right place! I left the car, thanked my lucky stars and left the easy job of reconnecting the pipe until the following day..

The following day I went to connect the pipe to the rack and I realised that it had to be absolutely straight before attempting to screw in the securing nut. Again, this turned into Ben Hur... I spent most of the morning juggling the pipe, in some places I had to very gently bend it piece by piece until eventually I was satisfied that the pipe was straight enough facing the rack. I now had to start the nut very carefully and I used three different 19mm spanners to get the nut back on in tiny tiny movements, I actually cut the head off a 19mm spanner and used it in conjunction with a steel bar against the chassis to slowly tighten the nut back in. After sweating for about an hour I finally had it tight enough that the pipe didn't move, all the time I was scared to overtighten it and round off the already weakened threads.

I finally filled up the system and looked for leaks... NONE a miracle, I then started the car and turned the wheel in both lock to lock and amazingly the union doesn't leak..

The morale of the story is... Take your time, try to have patience, invest in crow foot spanners. I would not do the job again. The reaction between steel and aluminium is always a nightmare, I am learning that you'll be really lucky to undo this type of union in a 22 year old car. Thanks for your patience in reading. I hope you solved your rack problems.

Well done. I would suggest adding a 3/8 in-line power steering fluid filter to the return line in the engine bay near the reservoir in order to catch any of those potential thread bits. I'm about to tackle this job myself on the 2.4 non-turbo and will let you know how it goes. Not planning on dropping the subframe but just grabbed a nice set of crofoot 3/8 drive bits for my ratchet. Wish me luck.

[Blacklab467]

Good luck, take lots of pictures before removing so you can remember the orientation. I wouldn't be intimidated by dropping the subframe, it will help a lot to get the old one out and the new one in. Quite honestly, I don't know how it could be done without both dropping the subframe AND lifting up the motor a bit at the same time. Maybe it can but I'd just give yourself some extra room, it doesn't add very much time to the job.

[br0dy519]

The hose is in. This job really wasn't that bad on a 2.4 non-turbo... EXCEPT for when I jacked the engine up a bit the rear lower mount completely burst and spat hydraulic fluid all over my driveway, fantastic... Also whoever installed this pressure line into the PS pump last (I know the pump was replaced at some point), they completely stripped the pressure hose threads. The PS pump is at the machine shop now getting a helicoil. FML! Can't wait until this thing is done. Thank god I had a lower mount in my ever-growing Volvo parts crib.