Ton-up
Member
- Messages
- 2,317
- Location
- Essex, England.
I have had my 2010 VW Transporter van for 11 years, it’s my only vehicle and I do about 15 to 18,000 miles a year. I came down to Cornwall on a working holiday for a week in April 2023 from Essex (320 miles) and as I turned off the A30 about 6 miles from where we were staying at my SILs house in Perranporth, there was a screeching noise and I lost the power steering!
It turned out the seals had failed in the rack, loosing the power steering fluid. In the morning I found a local garage who ordered a rack and changed it a couple of days later.
So last Saturday I came down here again, staying at the same place, done a couple of hundred miles since being here, and this evening, yes, you’ve probably guessed, as we returned to the house after a windy and wet day out, a screeching noise again heralded a lack of power steering fluid. I pulled over in the same spot as last year to check it. The reservoir was empty, so after filling it up with some of the half empty bottle that has been in the van since last year, I looked underneath and could not see any traces of oil, although there was a smell of it, so I thought I would at least do the few miles home.
Half a mile from home there was a groaning from the front ( I could just hear it over the annoying drone from the passenger seat) which meant all the new fluid had gone. I then left a lovely trail of power steering fluid up the rented houses pristine block paving driveway…..
Oh well, off to the same garage in the morning to see what they can do as I need to go home at the weekend…
I checked all fluids before leaving, (PS F was at correct level), it had a mot a few weeks ago, so should have been ok before leaving home. So I can maybe understand the first rack failing after 210,000 miles, but why the hell have both racks gone after a long drive on straight roads, with 15000 miles between?
It turned out the seals had failed in the rack, loosing the power steering fluid. In the morning I found a local garage who ordered a rack and changed it a couple of days later.
So last Saturday I came down here again, staying at the same place, done a couple of hundred miles since being here, and this evening, yes, you’ve probably guessed, as we returned to the house after a windy and wet day out, a screeching noise again heralded a lack of power steering fluid. I pulled over in the same spot as last year to check it. The reservoir was empty, so after filling it up with some of the half empty bottle that has been in the van since last year, I looked underneath and could not see any traces of oil, although there was a smell of it, so I thought I would at least do the few miles home.
Half a mile from home there was a groaning from the front ( I could just hear it over the annoying drone from the passenger seat) which meant all the new fluid had gone. I then left a lovely trail of power steering fluid up the rented houses pristine block paving driveway…..
Oh well, off to the same garage in the morning to see what they can do as I need to go home at the weekend…
I checked all fluids before leaving, (PS F was at correct level), it had a mot a few weeks ago, so should have been ok before leaving home. So I can maybe understand the first rack failing after 210,000 miles, but why the hell have both racks gone after a long drive on straight roads, with 15000 miles between?
