Just booked my car in for a service and MOT.

The garage (an offical seat dealership) rang me and told me that their was play in the steering and they would have to fit a new rack, i asked them if it wasnt a case of fitting a new rubber cush drive and they told me now its a new rack or itll fail the mot.

Is this bollocks? the thing im not so sure about is that its a PAS rack.
my thinking is, is that the gears them self probably wont of worn away enough as its onyl a 4 year old car, so the only other thing i can think of is that its the rubber cush drive thats perished?

What Seat?
How many miles?
I,ve got a Leon 65K miles just flew through 1st MOT with the harshest tester I've ever met.
sounds like someone may be looking for some work to me. Power racks are usually good for 100K+ depending on type of driving of course.

Gav,
It's probably more likely to be the inner track rod balljoint which is worn rather than the rack and pinion itself so you probably only need a new track rod (or two). It could also be the outer track rod balljoint (aka Track rod end) but I would hope that Seat would have checked that first as it is a very cheap bolt-on component.

If you do need to change the track rod then I don't know if you can buy them separately so you may need to use a salvaged part. You then need to be very careful when replacing it as it should have some form of locking device (roll pin, peened, thread lock, lock nut etc) which is obviously safety critical.

I hope this helps,
Craig.

I would agree with craig an bkloco, it is very unlikely that the rack has gone.. much more likely to be a track-rod end, these are easily available and cost about £9... i changed one a few weeks back on a customers motor.. it would not suprise me at all that the main dealer is either not checking properly or after some more work!

Its a leon cupra on its 80k service
humm unfotunatly the MOT runs out on 22nd and i dont have time to play about with it and i have a lot of place to be next week.
Think ill just have to stump up the cash(was quoted 290 for the rack + 150 for fitting), although ill definalty be checking that the whole rack is brand new, if not a phone call to trading standards will be on the cards.

They will prob change the rack and then fit the old ends back on

LOL,

Well i decided that rather than paying for it i would get it checked out first, one of my neighbours(a merc mechanic), at least that way their is the possability of saving myself of couple of hundered.

[Edited on 20/10/05 by Gav]

i have found ps racks with abit of play which disapears with the engine running!

I took my old ax gt for tires and the fitter tried telling me my rack had play. As he wobbled one of the wheels you could see the steering wheel moving

What a T*!T

Get a second opinion!

Ditto.
Second opinion is needed. Remember, you do not have to use a SEAT dealership thesedays. As long as you use a recognised/experienced firm, they can stamp your service history .

Already had it serviced this is just for the MOT.

humm, if i was to take it to a back street garage for the MOT you rekon they might be a little more relaxed about it?
i mean i drive this car every day and the steering to me feels as if their is no play.
surley if it was enough to fail the MOT it would be big enough for me to notice it right?

[Edited on 20/10/05 by Gav]

Thanks a lot for that Mark.
What i intend to do (in an hours time) is go pick the car up and ask if they can show me exactly why the part will fail(as i dont want to be driving an unsafe car after all) if they have no intention of showing me why it should be replaced then ill ask for the VT17.
It was funny though when i asked for them to the cancel the order of the steering rack, their wasnt any kind of explanation as to why it should be done just a "err ok then"
evan when they rang me up and said it needed replacing i asked if it wasnt just the cush drive and i was told that they dont service parts only replace with new, i just didnt like the way he was trying to justify it

Blimay Charlie Calvin that's one of the most interesting replies I've ever read regarding MOT's - you should come on here more often! (If you'll pardon the expression!)

After viewing the MOT failure report it was recorded as play in the inner track rod knuckle.
and they wanted to fit a new rack. gonna have a look on the seatcupra.net forums and see if anyone else has had this before.

Until 9 weeks ago, I used to be manager of a VAG bodyshop, Golf (basically the same car) trackrods are available separately, and can be changed in no time - not too expensive either

many thanks mark, ill ring round a few of the larger seat dealerships close to me and see waht they can do for me.

i talked to Hobins at preston (who i normally use) the guy laughed when i told him the whole story and said just the trackrod will need replacing.

Think ill be writing a nasty letter to MrSeat about this particular dealship trying to rip me off.