Steering Rack Rigid Pipes Leaking.

[Ian21401]

1992 940 est. 2.0L petrol, non turbo.
Oily drip under car and power steering fluid low.
There are two rigid metal pipes (like brake pipes) from near the centre of the body of the rack to a "box" where the flexible pipe "banjo" unions attach. The leak appears to be from one of the rigid pipes. Definitely not the "banjo" unions. I've not yet removed the engine undertray or the cover panel from the middle of the front crossmember but will be doing so to investigate further.
Main dealer advises that there are two pipes, one longer than the other. The longer one is available from Sweden but the shorter one is NLA. (part no. 1387465).
Does anyone know what material these pipes are made of and/or is it possible to have them made up similar to brake pipes.?

[mjk164]

Speak to http://www.power-steering.co.uk/
They have new and reconditioned power steering gears for hundreds of cars and will either have your pipes in stock or will make them up and mail them. I've used them several times for my 960 and they are excellent.
Power Steering Services,
Unit 5 Brookmarsh Industrial Estate, 70 Norman Road, Greenwich, London SE10 9QE. 0208 853 3343

[Ian21401]

Thanks for the info. mjk164. I've tried their listed sales tel. no. but it doesn't answer and their support line 08712 884480 is not recognised. I found a mobile number 07984 627575 in Yell.com but that is unavailable.
When did you last contact this firm please?

[mjk164]

Ian, they are still at that address and have been for many years and I have used them twice in the last few months. Sometimes you have to let the phone ring for some time on the main line number (02088533343) as its in the office and that is up the stairs from the main workshop floor.

[Ian21401]

mjk164, Thanks for the prompt reply.
As I couldn't obtain a reply at the above tel.nos. I had a trawl around the 'net and found a firm trading as Sinspeed UK Ltd with the same address in Brookmarsh Ind. Est., Greenwich as Power Steering Services but different tel.nos. (Sales:0844 847 9999 or Support: 0871 288 7666 ) but by then it was too late to ring them today so I will try tomorrow. Does that sound like the same firm you have dealt with?
Having found it impossible to remove the rigid pipes with the rack in situ if it has stopped raining tomorrow I will try to remove the complete rack. It's easy in theory but one will find out in due course. I'm considering replacing the rack with a re-engineered one if possible.

Other firms located during my trawl were are as follows and I would be grateful if any contributors to this forum have any observations/opinions about them:
Western Power Steering, Hanham, Bristol.
DNR Components, Rochdale.
ACS Power Steering, Tame Valley Ind. Est. Tamworth.
Glasgow Power Steering, Corntyne Ind. Est.
ProPower Steering Ltd.,West Thurrock, Essex.

[mjk164]

Yes Ian, Sinspeed is the same company that was Power Steering Services with the same mechanics and technicians with all the knowledge. I spoke to them this morning on the sales number 0844 847 9999 and confirmed. My apologies if I gave you a bum steer but I did not know the name had changed; but the premises and the men are the same. I'm pretty sure if you speak to them with what you are looking for they will either have a 2nd hand Volvo pipe or make up a new one to pattern.
Cheers.

[Ian21401]

Thanks for confirming that for me mjk164. I tried all four tel.nos. 0208 853 3343, 08712 884480, 0844 847 9999, and 0871 2887666 this morning. The only response I received was on the 0208 853 3343 number inviting me to leave a message, which I did, but no response yet. You must have a "hotline" to them. I'll try again in the morning and send them an email through their website.
I've managed to remove the complete rack this afternoon but haven't yet examined it thoroughly as by then the light was fading. The two metal pipes are quite corroded but nothing immediately obvious.
Strange that the unions on one end of the pipes are 10mms. across the flats but the other ends of each pipe are 11mms. and 12mms.
Also strange, the two long bolts which secure the rack to the front crossmember, the bolt head on the offside is 13mms. but the one on the nearside is 12mms. The nuts on each bolt are 15mms. They took some shifting but they have been there for 25 years.

[rwdkev]

If you want a Volvo one, Steve Quinn is currently breaking a 92J 940 2.0 estate although not actually shown in this listing

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VOLVO-MK1...YAAOSwgLlaXz95

[Ian21401]

Thanks rwdkev for the info. re Steve Quinn, I've contacted him but he doesn't have a rack left but we are discussing other things.

mjk164, I eventually managed to speak to Sinspeed. They did not have anything available off the shelf but offered to copy my pipes if I sent them.
I had also been making enquiries locally and a local independent Volvo specialist suggested I contact another local firm, which I did and they stated that they could copy my pipes so I went with that rather then have to mail stuff elsewhere.

I've had one or two difficulties with this repair but it now appears to be sorted. I will post an account of what happened. It is rather long but may be of assistance to anyone else at some time.

[Ian21401]

During my enquiries locally I was advised that there are three different makes of rack fitted to the 940 during it's build life, one of which is a "TRW" make. I had cleaned my rack and found the following cast into the pinion housing casting, " Volvo, 34 005 072, 1687501, TRW". My main dealer did a search on those details but advised that they were not recorded in their database.
It appears that a previous someone had attempted to remove the oil pipes as the unions into the pinion casting were well chewed up. I was forced to cut the pipes next to the union and resort to my "easy out twist sockets" to remove the unions. I was concerned that they may shear off but all was well.
The original pipes are steel but the local firm copied the pipes in cunifer. He did not have any very short unions identical to the original ones so used slightly longer ones. ( The original ones are total length 15.5 mms ) He also had to re-use the very small "O" rings from the original pipes. We didn't think that this would be as issue, but I found that it was. The original pipes, at the pinion end, are bent through a very small radius 180 degrees immediately after leaving the union. The new pattern pipes were bent through 180 degrees but the longer unions caused the bend to be in the wrong place. I fitted the pipes to the rack with the minimum amount of re-bending but when attempting to refit the rack to the car the new pipes were fouling the chassis cross member.
The pipes were returned to the supplier who made up another set having shortened the unions to the same as the originals and struggled to replicate the small radius 180 degree bends. These pipes were refitted to the rack and the rack installed in the cross member. The banjo unions were re-attached with new copper washers and the system refilled and the steering moved lock to lock to purge the system. The system purged easily but the steering wheel was fouling the column switch shroud, something which it hadn't done before, and was stiff to turn.
When initially removing the rack from the car the lower universal coupling had been very difficult to move. I had removed both clamping bolts completely lest they were similar to cotter pins and were located through a cut out section of the pinion and/or column. (It transpired that they were not, so it was not necessary to remove them completely.) I was forced to carefully drift the coupling off the pinion (which is splined ) onto the column (which has a squared section) with ever increasing force until it moved. As the steering wheel had not been fouling the shrouds prior to this I wondered whether I had damaged something during that process. I removed the panel from beneath the column to check the column. All appeared to be in order. The collapsible section on my car is in the form of a concertina type steel tube which is part of the column, not a separate coupling, and is located near the top of the column just down from the switches etc. I disconnected the bottom of the column from the rack pinion (the coupling was easily moved by hand this time ) and found that with the bottom of the column disconnected the steering wheel was still fouling the shrouds but it was possible to pull the wheel towards me about 2 or 3 mms. This cured the fouling and the stiffness. But when I released the wheel it returned to the lower position. I decided to re-attach the lower coupling to the column and pinion but only clamp it onto the column. I then levered the coupling up the pinion and tightened the clamp bolt. It took three attempts to get it right but it does appear to have solved the problem.