98 S70 Steering Rack Blown

bcobb70 · Post by **bcobb70** » 10 Dec 2022, 17:21

Hey everyone, been a long time since i've been on here and could use some help. Yesterday i was taking the Vo to work and hit some snowy conditions, rear end kicked out, i caught it twice and continued on my way. No more than a quarter mile farther, i noticed my power steering just disappeared. I stopped to check it out and needless to say fluid was drained in a matter of seconds. Drove home and checked it out. looks like both ends of rack blew out and my tie rod boots are all pressurized and full of fluid. My question is, what would cause both sides to blow out like that, is there a way to rebuild the rack? or is it better to just buy a new one. Any information on how these racks work would be great too, i noticed the end seals are typical volvo weird and plastic.

Post by **abscate** » 11 Dec 2022, 04:51

The racks are rebuildable but a decent rack ftom United or Detroit Axle runsabout $250-300

It sounds like the impact spiked the pressure in the rack to blow the seals. If you were turning when you hit the obstacle that can happen. If you snap your hands quickly off the wheel before you hit you can prevent this.

There is a running thread on rack options recently here, too

bcobb70 · Post by **bcobb70** » 11 Dec 2022, 07:13

Thanks, I figure it was caused by a spike in pressure, I didn’t hit any objects though, just had to quick snap the steering wheel. Detroit was who I was looking at, good to hear they sell a decent rack.

Post by **foggydogg** » 11 Dec 2022, 09:35

Steering racks do get tender with age and miles. Search the threads here on this issue; it would be hard to overstate one caution, avoid Cardone.

Post by **abscate** » 11 Dec 2022, 11:25

Link to 2022 rack discussion

viewtopic.php?t=99317&hilit=Steering+rack+options

Post by **Clemens** » 12 Dec 2022, 14:15

Btw: A guy on Swedespeed runs his 850 without a p/s pump. He blocked the lines so no fluid escapes. No more blown seals from high pressure I guess, but parallel parking in a tight spot must be quite a challenge, I guess.

Post by **wizechatmgr** » 14 Dec 2022, 20:09

Clemens wrote: ↑12 Dec 2022, 14:15 Btw: A guy on Swedespeed runs his 850 without a p/s pump. He blocked the lines so no fluid escapes. No more blown seals from high pressure I guess, but parallel parking in a tight spot must be quite a challenge, I guess.

Manually moving a hydraulic assembly without the benefit of pressure (lubrication) tends to cause it to wear out quickly. Not only that but modern systems (not ours) actually filter the fluid to remove contaminates. My guess is he'll be fine up until he isn't. There are only two systems I don't play games with - steering and brakes... Both can and will kill us in record time.

If you find your steering couplers are hard to move and rather ratty, try heating them up with a torch and then exercise some grease into them. Not too hot as you don't want a fire, but just enough to cause that grease to liquify and make it's way where it is needed.

Post by **FireFox31** » 15 Dec 2022, 14:06

I've read that the passenger's side seal can be replaced with the rack on the car. I'm going to try it myself once I find the appropriate face pin spanning wrench to remove the seal. But that's being discussed in a different thread.

The driver's side seal is apparently difficult or impossible to remove with the rack installed. There's too much in the way. Thus, the rack has to come out. And since you met such a large failure, you might as well replace the rack since it must come out. The challenge is finding a brand to trust, so I'll leave that to the opinions thread linked above.