mk4 golf pas steering leak woes

unlucky, why anyone would do that is beyond me. what else has been bodged would be my next worry. Presumably the weld is at the rack end of the coupling? if so then it should be possible to cut it off and leave the coupling mostly intact and re-usable. The rack of course may not be acceptable as exchange.

Look on the bright side, finding ou by being unable to get it off is infinitely preferable to finding out by it cracking. It should have been failed by whoever MOT'd it though. 2.2.d.d

It unknown to them why this was done aswell, its stupid was his words. he showed me the weld, its not on the actual rack it just on the steering column its at the bottom of the steering column on the part thats moves up and down that has been welded in place so it doesn't move when it suppose to move.

He said the rack will come off no problem with out damage which is a relief as its part of the deal for it to be recon'd.

I reckon so when you put it like that. Whats not so funny is its been MOT'd with the same garage for the last 5 years! and one just recently. I brought it up and he laughed and said if it was seen its a failre, but as its covered by cowling if not seen and they are not allowed to remove parts to look at others.

For some reason I've started getting a bad feeling about this garage now as in did they weld it for reasons of extorting more money out of me or was it actually like that.

Aparantly the part welded is the part that moves up and down with natural movement on the car on the bottom bit of the steering column.

I have no reason to doubt them and they've done odds and sods on it in the past with no troubles.

ah, you mean the collapsible part of the column has been welded up. Sometimes that gets play that gets an mot fail, a bodger might weld it up as a quick fix.

That's true, & you wouldn't have any reason to suspect it.

Hardly worth it.

They go sloppy.

I'd suspect the previous owner.

Yeah your right, I was just narked off with all the problems, its not the garages fault, previous owner indeed. They've been good about it all and kept costs down as much as possible.

I have now gotten the car back, but when I got in the air bag light was on, I went back in and he said come back this morning as the machines at the back with all cars on ramps in front of it, to put it on the machine which I did. He couldn't clear the fault and the code is a 0588 something to do with the igniter on the drivers airbag. He said it looks like a wiring issue and they would have to strip it all down again and find out whats wrong, he said they can be fiddly and connectors can come off when it all goes back together some process about twisting or something. So he booked it in on Monday to do this and has assured me they will fix it on Monday and that should be it. All at cost to them I might add as I've paid for a job once, so not paying again.

Its not particular good form to let me drive my car home with an airbag light on imho. As if I was in an accident they bag would not be functioning to go off :-/ .. The garage is only manned with saturday staff to do mainly tyres etc so they couldn't do it today. Not really that happy about this current problem and the amount of repeat trips back.

Hey MrC just posted back above somewhere to Duncan with some more bad news about this job lol it does it worse lol..

Thats the part, it definitely a bodge and a bad one, its collapsible for a reason I guess. So at least I now know I have a normal column in there now doing the job properly.

I wanted to ask you something you know the boots on the power steering rack, whats the standard fixing for those ? it had cable ties when it went in and the new rack they have used the same ? is this ok or does it need a metal one ?

The AA guy that came out to me said it should be metal as thats possibly the reason it failed as weathering got in to the rack there and weatehred the seals and ball joint ?

The garage said 99% of cars they do has cable ties and thats what they always use without issue.

Just wodnering you professional opinion ?

Thanks

original equipment is metal clips. Pattern stuff has cable ties, they are perfectly adequate for the job and I do not believe they are likely to have influenced the original failure, a failed boot would have, if it was not spotted early enough.

rnal-september.org...

Normally it's because somebody's turned the ignition on with the bag =

disconnected, but that's easily cleared with the computer, but knocking = =

the connecter loose or not refitting the clockspring properly's really =

easy when you've got the column out.

Ahhh fair play. Basically I checked the boots for some reason and noticed they wee twisted up :/ .. took it back aparantly the mechanic twisted it up when he did the tracking. Which would have lead to it breaking pretty soon and the ball joint would have been exposed to weathering.

Also to note today pressed the horn to alert my presence as someone failed to see me and nothing! obviously something wrong there as well. Not convinved they put it all back together very well.

Tomorow I'll check the indicaters and wipers etc to see what else is not working and they can get on it on monday.

Not sure if I'm getting picky here ? but this is getting silly.

With that and the airbag they could have missed an earth on the column.

Normally it's because somebody's turned the ignition on with the bag disconnected, but that's easily cleared with the computer, but knocking the connecter loose or not refitting the clockspring properly's really easy when you've got the column out.

I suggested that to them today and he said no its a wiring problem from the fault code its showing. Which was 00588 I think he said. They tried clearing it with the computer but it wouldn't clear either. I guess somethings not connected up or popped off like you said above. He said its not a dfficult fix, but timely as they have to strip it all down again to check whats up.

Also the horn is not working! went to use it today as a matter of safety and nothing.

The car is parked up now till I get it all sorted as a matter of safety really, not sure if that makes me sound picky but hey ho. No air bag or horn in my eyes is not good, considering the family are in the car mostly.

I understand they can be fiddly reconnecting airbags from what I read so no major, although I took the car in before 9 this morning to get looked at on their diagnostics and they were done in 5 minutes with that and about 45 minutes sorting out the twisted boots on the steering rack which were twisted up when the mechanic did the tracking, glad I looked.

Even though he said its only saturday staff in its the same guys there as in the week lol ... I think they didn't want to comit to the job as they shut at one.. he said it would take about an hour to strip it down and find the problem and put it all back together, approximately 2 hours. It could of been done but he said Saturdays are always busy with people coming in for tyres.... so next week it is.

I think I'll stick to my specilist at least I know the job is done first time even if I pay a little more. I'm not sure if I being a little over touchy but problems like this irritate me and no doubt them but hey ho ...

Ahhh I hope they figure it out, from a bit of reading on ukmkivs it could also be a damaged slip ring, or incorrectly fitted slip ring. No doubt some thing simple as an earth.

A new day a new issue noticed! .. Okies on full right lock there is a grinding sound .. the problem was not there before the work was carried out but is there now, is this something related to the work they have done ? .. I have the feeling they will say its nothing to do with them..

On left lock there is no issue, just on full right lock, noticeably you feel on left lock a point where you cannot turn any more like a stop a slight bump, on right lock there is not feel like this more a feel of you can keep turning untill on full right lock which feels could go further if there was no aparant grinding noise ?

I have taking a picture of the driveshaft area and not sure if this is the area of concern but I'm not mechanically edcuated enough to know whats up ?

Appreciate some feedback or likely causes for this new problem.

Thanks for the help so far all.

if the noise occurs when the vehicle is moving, then is a tyre touching the body? If so then the rack is not correctly set up.

Hi MrC,

Yeah its when moving, although I hadn't tried it when stationary.

I've contacted the garage this morning to tell them and they said they will have a look at it this afternoon along with the other problems.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

if the noise occurs when the vehicle is moving, then is a tyre touching the body? If so then the rack is not correctly set up.

Right a little update. Basically the guy that did it was just a cover mechanic as they hire temp people in when they are swamped. No excuse.

The boss chappy was working on my car and basically said he buggered up the job.

The right wheel was out by half a turn! hence the rubbing/grinding noise.

Then they are going to re-track the tracking..

As for the air bag they are unsure yet and so far have been unable to reset it. He said its difficult figuring out a fault when someone else has been doing it/ buggering it up

He said your right to be pissed off as its taking the biscuit now, this is not how a garage should run or do a job, piss poor.

Last thing I have done there. And if anyone asks I'd be happy to tell them my experience and let them decide if they want to take the risk.

I shall be using my usual specialist next time, maybe more money but at least they will do the job right first time as they have always done.

Hopefully the car should be ready tomorow. The boss whos pretty talented from what I can see is on the job so hopefully it will be done.

I get the impression he will be having words with the mechanic who mucked the job up.

I did request that the whole job be checked over. As my confidence in them is pretty low.

Bit narked off now to be honest so apologies if it sounds like I'm moaning

alright, I have to ask, why did you not go to your regular place?

From my own point of view, I never try to play down the expense of doing a good job, I don't have to. So many people have been turned over by trying to get a cheap job it is amazing to me that anyone tries when they already know somewhere reliable. As for somewhere that uses 'unknown quality' mechanics............. That smacks of Quik-Fit. Rant over.