Nissan Primera P12 Steering Rack |
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hy9etb
NPOC Guest Joined: 25 Jun 2011 Location: Scarborough Online Status: Points: 4 |
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Posted: 17 Apr 2012 at 3:07pm |
My P12 has just failed its MOT because of an intermittent leak from the steering rack- I'm a student and the mechanic suggested that it would be more economical for me to get a replacement rack and fit it myself due to the labour time for replacement, especially considering the damn car has already cost me over £1000 since i got it (needed engine and clutch replacement!!!!!).
I've had a look through the guide on the nissan factory service manual and the instructions kind of make sense but the most i've really done mechanically to my car is change the brake pads & oil filter etc, so I was wondering how easy swapping the rack is on a p12?
Would really appreciate it if someone could clarify the instructions that nissan give so that an idiot (i.e. me!) can understand what they mean! One final point- why is it necessary to remove the front wiper arm as per the nissan instructions?!
Cheers
Eddy
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Shawn260680
NPOC Guest Joined: 26 Jan 2012 Location: Southampton Online Status: Points: 34 |
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Hi Eddy,
I had the same problem with the leak in the steering rack of my P12. Was qouted £350 Labour and £150 for a reconditioned steering rack on the basis that I send them my fault steering rack. Looked around and found this product on Ebay, ' Lucas steering Rack Leak fix' its just a fuild that you pour into the reservior of the steering fluid. That did the job for me stopped the leak and even passed the MOT its been 2 years now. On ebay just type in 'steering rack stop leak'. But i would suggest you get a mechanic to drain the fuild first and then fill it up with this. Hope this helps
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wickydude
NPOC Guest Joined: 24 Sep 2010 Location: Netherlands Online Status: Points: 2232 |
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Probably what is meant is to remove the whole wiper mechanism and the cowl top. Just to give you better access to the steering rack from the top. ie. this versus this: |
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Stoatwblr
NPOC Guest Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Online Status: Points: 33 |
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Late reply, I know. I had this problem a number of years ago (2007). Nissan want an arm and a leg for the rack and even more at the stealership to replace it. More importantly, there's a design fault which means the fault may recur even with a "new rack" In my case, I found a power steering reconditioning outfit in an industrial park near Blackwall Tunnel south portal in london. They pulled the rack, reconditioned it and reinstalled in 3 hours for 600 quid - which is less than the nissan dealer wanted in labour alone. (the nissan price for a rack was 800!) Interestingly, they reported that what had happened was that the O-ring seal on the steering input shaft had popped out, resulting in the leak. Instead of just fitting a new O-ring, they machined a second groove in the shaft and added a secondary O-ring, with both rings being of higher spec than the OEM ones - specifically to ensure this wouldn't happen again. Apparently this kind of failure was being seen more often in near-new (at the time) cars. (All other O-rings in the unit were replaced, but the input shaft got particular attention because of the leak) I've had no P/S problems since then. |
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redshark1
NPOC Guest Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Location: Yorkshire (West) Online Status: Points: 1826 |
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That's interesting, thanks for posting.
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See my Nissan Primera P11-144 common faults and fixes guide:
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timeshock!
NPOC Guest Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Location: Newcastle Online Status: Points: 14483 |
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Thanks for letting us know, Did you try the leak stop fluid first?
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Stoatwblr
NPOC Guest Joined: 21 Oct 2009 Online Status: Points: 33 |
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The hydraulic system is under a fair amount of pressure and my experience over the years with leak-stop fluids is that they tend to cause more damage than they fix (in the the most extreme case i know of, stop-leak fluid blocked a waterpump and the engine was completely cooked before the owner realised what'd happened.) I would only ever use that stuff if I knew exactly where the leak was and that the rest of the system was in reasonable shape. In any case because the leak was happened on a rotating seal it's unlikely it would have worked (20/20 hindsight, etc) Maybe indiscriminate use of leak sealant is ok for an old clunker but the car was only 3-4 years old at the time. |
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