RE: help resuscitate an old Audi

[Aleksander Mierzwa <alex@matrix.com.pl>]

Steve wrote:

	>- steering rack.  Seems to be leaking inside the boots on the
inner
	>  end of the boot.  (Both sides).  Shop is quoting me $750 for
a rebuilt
	>  rack, not counting labor.  Fair price?  What's the best
source for
	>  these?  I saw the writeup of the replacement procedure and it
looks
	>  doable but more than I want to get into without a garage to
work in.
	>  How many hours labor should I expect?

$750 is waaaaay too much. As far as I know, rebuilt racks with core
exchange run for about $250 in US.  Check
http://coimbra.ans.net/qlist/5000_rack.txt for details.

	>- other hydraulic items:
	>   - hydraulic fluid appears to be being pushed out the
reservoir cap.

When does it happen? There's a pressure accumulator (aka "the bomb") in
the system which (if it works, which is a rare occasion on old Audi ;-)
) holds about 0.5 liter of fluid under high pressure. If you discharge
it (which normally requires pumping the brake with engine off, but can
also occur if the has internal leak) this fluid will go back to the
reservoir. If the reservoir is filled to the "max" level with the bomb
charged, there won't be enough space in it to hold the fluid from the
bomb.

   >- there's a possible leak underneath the brake booster/master
cylinder
   >  junction.

This is most likely a leaking servo.

   >- one shop thought the pump might be overpressurizing the system?

??? Never heard about it. The pump is the less reliable element of
hydraulic system on these cars, it would rather blow than overpressurize
;-)

   >- who designed this thing anyway?

As one of the listers pointed out, Audis are made using the technology
from the Roswell wreck. Unfortunately, they didn't figure out why the
h*ll did the alien ship crash :-)

	>- drum brake cylinder leaking -
	>   - I've never worked on drum brakes before.  Can I just
replace the
	>     cylinder, or ...?

Yes, cylinders are easily replaceable

Aleksander Mierzwa
Warsaw, Poland
mailto:alex@matrix.com.pl
87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)
88 Renault Medallion wagon (mom's)
91 mountain bike (just in case both cars broke at the same time :-)