W204 steering rack leak

[wiggo220]

Has any one had issues with leaking power steering fluid from the steering rack?

Car is C220 cdi, 62 plate, 37k miles

Starting whining when almost full lock and car was weighted to either side.
Checked P/S fluid and topped up, noise went away

Car has just come back from a B service at Mercedes and I mentioned it needed topping up and could they check for leaks.

Tech phoned wth diagnosis of failed seal in rack and would need complete unit replacing @ £1600 with total price of £2400 all in!!

I turned this down and said I would ring round some indies.

Now, this can was serviced by them last year at 3 . 5yrs old and 26k miles and no problems. How can this fail with 11k miles later?

Still cant get my head round the fact a 4yr old 37k mile car would have a steering rack fail.

Can this the repaired with a new seal kit? Or is a leaking steering rack a new job?

There is a little bit of hope in the fact the service manager said they haven't come across this on that year / mileage car and have contacted Mercedes to see if they can do anything.

 

[ernie]

Has any one had issues with leaking power steering fluid from the steering rack?

Car is C220 cdi, 62 plate, 37k miles

Starting whining when almost full lock and car was weighted to either side.
Checked P/S fluid and topped up, noise went away

Car has just come back from a B service at Mercedes and I mentioned it needed topping up and could they check for leaks.

Tech phoned wth diagnosis of failed seal in rack and would need complete unit replacing @ £1600 with total price of £2400 all in!!

I turned this down and said I would ring round some indies.

Now, this can was serviced by them last year at 3 . 5yrs old and 26k miles and no problems. How can this fail with 11k miles later?

Still cant get my head round the fact a 4yr old 37k mile car would have a steering rack fail.

Can this the repaired with a new seal kit? Or is a leaking steering rack a new job?

There is a little bit of hope in the fact the service manager said they haven't come across this on that year / mileage car and have contacted Mercedes to see if they can do anything.

Has it had accident damage in the past?

Ernie

 

[wiggo220]

Its not down as a category damaged, and no accidents in my ownership.

Although after owning for over a year now, i'm thinking there may have been light damage to front. ( 2016 date on underside bonnet and clip broke on DRL ).

 

[wiggo220]

Sorry about poor quality pictures, these are screen grabs from video where leaking

 

[ernie]

I don't think I've seen a 204, or for that matter, a 203 rack failure mentioned either here or on the other forum.

It might be worth trying to get a contribution from MB. clearly if there has been accident damage at some point they might not play ball...unless you have some sort of warranty? Failing that try to find a used rack from a car that hasn't had steering damage and get an Indy to fit it for you.

Hope you get sorted out OK.


Ernie

 

[wiggo220]

Good news!

Mercedes decided that this shouldnt have happened on a car of this age and agreed to pay 50%.

Final bill came in at £1008 which the steering rack made up £650 of this price.

Hell of a lot better than original £2400 i was quoted on the day of service.

Would probably got better deal at independent, but does come with 2year warranty and was convenient.

 

[brucemillar]

Sorry

I missed the original post.

My C55 had a rack seal fail. This was "fixed" by a company in South London (Power Steering Services - I think) but if failed again, while still in the Independents shop. He managed to source a re-furbished rack from the same company for £450, this included them keeping my rack. I believe that it is like a tap seat that gets worn under the 'O'-ring and that this sometimes can be re-ground.

 

[bigdom1957]

hi my 2015 c220 cdi just developed a leak ,i was turning a corner and roundabout where it started makeing a noise like a cow giveing birth ,phoned merc and they said to bring it in ,it seemed the guy new the fault , i thought it would have been an electrical rack not hydralic , but hopefully for me its still got 5 month on warrentie,

 

[ernie]

hi my 2015 c220 cdi just developed a leak ,i was turning a corner and roundabout where it started makeing a noise like a cow giveing birth ,phoned merc and they said to bring it in ,it seemed the guy new the fault , i thought it would have been an electrical rack not hydralic , but hopefully for me its still got 5 month on warrentie,

THat's strange because my 2014 205 has an electronic rack, although I have a feeling that an AMG line that I had at one point as a loan car was hydraulic.

Ernie

 

[pembssurf]

Has any one had issues with leaking power steering fluid from the steering rack?

Car is C220 cdi, 62 plate, 37k miles

Starting whining when almost full lock and car was weighted to either side.
Checked P/S fluid and topped up, noise went away

Car has just come back from a B service at Mercedes and I mentioned it needed topping up and could they check for leaks.

Tech phoned wth diagnosis of failed seal in rack and would need complete unit replacing @ £1600 with total price of £2400 all in!!

I turned this down and said I would ring round some indies.

Now, this can was serviced by them last year at 3 . 5yrs old and 26k miles and no problems. How can this fail with 11k miles later?

Still cant get my head round the fact a 4yr old 37k mile car would have a steering rack fail.

Can this the repaired with a new seal kit? Or is a leaking steering rack a new job?

There is a little bit of hope in the fact the service manager said they haven't come across this on that year / mileage car and have contacted Mercedes to see if they can do anything.

Exactly this problem on my 63 plate W204 with 37k miles on. Noticed a leak kept topping up and eventually diagnosed steering rack seal failure with fluid around the gaiters. Luckily have purchased tier 1 which will cover the cost and Mercedes good will covering 50% too. Seems this problem seems more common than thought and especially prevalent on facelift cars post 62.