Steering rack?

[sean.smithy94]

Hi,

Well the noise I've been getting has been diagnosed as the steering rack  he's going to price up a second hand and a reconditioned one tomorrow and give me a price, for those that have replaced there's for a second hand or a recon, what price all in did you pay?

Not ideally what I wanted to go wrong but I'm fretting a fair bit as I know it can be costly 

[rich83]

Hmm... cant remember exactly but I think i paid about 800 for a recon 3rd gen one at AKS.

[Zipupurmickey]

Have one here with 100k km for 150 if you don't get sorted.


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[pudding]

Hmm... cant remember exactly but I think i paid about 800 for a recon 3rd gen one at AKS.

MK5s have 3 rack revisions, or is gen 3 from a MK6 or something?

I've heard a rack is about £1500 from VW.  Not surprised they bite the dust.  Over tyred German cars have always chewed through steering racks.

[Dan_FR]

I paid £90 for a 38k mile rack from a GTI. Spent ages looking in to part numbers as there are 3 generations and multiple steering weight profiles. Recon racks can be had as cheap as 300ish notes for a gen2. New genuine is silly money

[sean.smithy94]

I've got it booked in at another garage on Friday, just for a second opinion really, there's no way I'm paying for a brand new one! Seems as though finding a second hand one isn't very easy and recon ones seems it can be expensive, it's looking likely to be the rack but I'm really hoping it's not!

[g4fus]

hi i had a problem with my rack turned out the rack was not central count the turns from center to the right and then center to left i had to remove the steering wheel and move it a 1/4 turn to center the rack as when i turned to the right i had 1 and a 1/4 turns and i had 1and 3/4 turns to the left once i moved the steering wheel and had the tracking done i drove the car for about 10 miles switched it off and then switched it on and then turned the steering all the way to the left held it there for about 2seconds then center and then to the right for 2 seconds then back to the center and the light went off and steering worked fine hope this helps

[99hagued]

http://www.acspowersteering.co.uk

I paid £400 for new gen 3 rack from these guys 

[SI-R32]

Couple of things to remember buying any rack gen 2 or 3 you'll probably need VW to install the steering curve into the unit to work with your car I.E to weight the steering correctly.

if you get a gen 3 rack it only has 3 fixing points not 4 like gen 2 so don't think something is missing.

plus if also getting a gen 3 when you previously had gen 2 you'll need to buy a wiring loom from VW 100+ as the gen 2 wiring will not fit gen 3 rack, part number 1K2971111AJ

[Dan_FR]

Steering weight profile only applies to a 'new' rack.... A used rack will still have the steering weight profile present, which is why if you go for a used GTI rack then you don't need  a dealer flash.

Upgrading to Gen3 isn't just the £100+ loom, in some cases a new subframe is needed too which is definitely a 'second hand' jobbie as they're pretty steep from VW

[pudding]

What is the benefit(s) of a Gen 3 to justify that extra expense and spannering?

Seems more sensible to just replace like for like to me.

[Dan_FR]

Can't buy a new Gen2, the Gen3 supersedes this. Supposedly a better, stronger rack. The steering angle sensor is in the rack on the Gen3 rather than the column on the Gen2 hence why the newer loom is needed. That's about all I found out, other than it's an expensive 'upgrade'.

I changed my rack with a low mileage 'like for like' and didn't get so much as a fault code or warning light. No calibrations or resets needed, it just..... worked 

[pudding]

Ah OK, so no choice then if one was to buy it all new from VW!

I'm all for upgrades, but I don't like the sound of one less mounting lug and possibly a new subframe required!

Touch wood mine is OK still at 110K, but it's one of those inevitable 'round the corner' jobs I'm preparing for!

[SI-R32]

Steering weight profile only applies to a 'new' rack.... A used rack will still have the steering weight profile present, which is why if you go for a used GTI rack then you don't need  a dealer flash.

Upgrading to Gen3 isn't just the £100+ loom, in some cases a new subframe is needed too which is definitely a 'second hand' jobbie as they're pretty steep from VW

Agree buying like for like is better, but  steering curve does not only apply to new rack, if a decent 2nd hand gen 2 or 3 comes from a 1.4 golf and you put it in your car then you'll still need to get it done, ideally I'm just letting people know there options, which no one sadly did until I posted last night :)

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[sean.smithy94]

Some good advice here, thanks folks! My gti is a 56 plate, are you able to tell what gen the rack is from the age or part number?  As I don't want to accidentally buy the wrong gen that the car had