Month and a half ago the steering on my 2005 Liberty CRD started to 'clunk'. Traced it to the passenger side rack and pinion inside the bellows the shaft would gyrate with a clunk as the steering was turned left to right. I decided to order and install a remanufactured rack and pinion. Did the timing belt, water pump and various idlers, thermostat, and tensioners while I had the car apart as I just recently hit 105k.
I installed it using the method discussed in the forums where you slide the rack out (and then back into) the passenger wheel well. I had to remove the two hard hydraulic lines from the rack and then re-attach them after it was installed in order to slide the new one in. I wrapped tape around the open holes during installation to minimize crud.
I manually flushed a bunch of ATF-4 through the system before connecting the flexible hydraulics lines to the rack.
I then filled it with ATF-4 and bled the system by turning the steering side to side until I didn't get anymore air out (I later learned that air can be trapped and a vacuum can help get it out).
I drove the Jeep most days for the next two weeks and checked the fluid level each time I got home. It didn't appear to be using any fluid and I didn't notice any foaming at all. Life was good.
A month after the repair, I was turning into our drive and I heard the Power steering pump making a racket. I checked the power steering fluid container and it was empty. There hadn't been a drop of fluid found anywhere, so I was completely baffled as to where it could have gone. I refilled the reservoir. Added more. Added more. BOOM - The driver side bellows blew out with ATF drenching the drive. Solved the mystery of where the leaking ATF went at least
Chatted with the parts supplier and they traded out the part for a new one. I've installed it the same as before with the exception that I borrowed a Power Steering/Brake bleeding kit and followed the procedure for bleeding that came with the rack. I then left the vacuum on the power steering reservoir for 5 minutes and didn't see a drop in pressure.
- Before I test drive it, is there something that could be wrong in the system that caused the new and possibly original racks to fail so soon?
- If so, is there a way I can test for it before I blow out another rack?