# Do I need a new power steering rack or not?



## Ktang (Jan 2, 2011)

My '04 gto has been slowly leaking power steering fluid from the rubber boots of the power steering rack for a little while now. A few days ago it blew a huge leak and gushed out the entire system in a few minutes. I've noticed that both rubber boots are cracked open on the ends and the clip is no longer holding them on. This appears to be where all the fluid is leaking from. 









This is the driver's side boot. This is the side that had a huge leak.









The passenger side which didn't leak as much. You can see my poor GTO's bloodstains on the road underneath 

Do the boots hold back the fluid that is leaking out? I was wondering then if just those boots need to be replaced, or if the entire steering rack itself needs to be replaced.

Thanks.


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## 87GN06GTO07IRL (Aug 10, 2009)

It's looking like you'll need a rack. The only thing the boot does is serve as a dust shield for the inner tie rod end. I don't think there's a rebuild kit for the racks.


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## LS2 MN6 (Jul 14, 2010)

If you have fluid in large quantities leaking out of the rack it's done.

The boots only are there to ensure that no part of the rack is ever exposed to the elements (when you do a full travel, the rack bar actually comes out of the gear 3-4 inches). They keep the grease in there preventing the rack parts from contamination and from water corrosion.

Fluid leaking means your hydraulic unit has ruptured and is now leaking fluid directly into the rack which is very very bad!


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## Ktang (Jan 2, 2011)

Thanks for the input. Now that I know that I'm going to need a new rack for sure, I have one more question. I've been searching around on Ebay and other sites and I'm finding two different racks for the '04 year. One having a 16mm inner tie rod diameter and one that shows up more often having a 14mm inner tie rod diameter. Any idea which one I need? I'd prefer not to guess and check seeing as getting the rack up here is kind of a bitch.
I've tried to research which one I need but haven't found like any info on it.


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## LS2 MN6 (Jul 14, 2010)

Ktang said:


> Thanks for the input. Now that I know that I'm going to need a new rack for sure, I have one more question. I've been searching around on Ebay and other sites and I'm finding two different racks for the '04 year. One having a 16mm inner tie rod diameter and one that shows up more often having a 14mm inner tie rod diameter. Any idea which one I need? I'd prefer not to guess and check seeing as getting the rack up here is kind of a bitch.
> I've tried to research which one I need but haven't found like any info on it.


If you buy the rack with the OTRs (outer tie rods) attached, the ITR diameter shouldn't matter per say. The gear mounting points and the knuckles are the same so they both should work. If you want to reuse your OTRs you need to get the same diameter you have now.


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## jpalamar (Jul 22, 2008)

Do long tubes while you are there


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