Think I just blew out a power steering hose

[SlickFix]

Hey guys,

2005 S4 with 95k miles on the clock.

So I was sitting a red light today and I heard a sudden short, loud "whizz!" or something like that from the front end, and then as I drove home I noticed the steering getting heavier. I drove the 2 miles to get home and shut her off. The power steering reservoir is empty, and the fluid that was in there is now dripping onto my driveway from the back of the belly pan.

I'm thinking that I blew out one of the power steering hoses, and I could use some advice.

From what I've read from my search, it's a PITA to change these hoses. But is it easy enough to figure out which one blew?

On the PITA scale, how bad is replacing these hoses? I've had my S4 for about 6 months now, and have never had to do any work on it other than plugs, oil change and fuel filter. I'm debating about trying to DIY it, or take it to my independent Audi mechanic. He's excellent and reasonable, but I like to repair things myself when it's not too insane.

I'm a weekend mechanic at best, but in the past I've done quite a number of repairs on my old 99.5 B5, including the control arms & tie rod assemblies, crankcase breather system, valve cover gaskets and valley seals, wiper assembly, brake pads & rotors, tiptronic fluid & filter, etc.

If I decide to take it to the mechanic, what are the chances that I can drive the 12 miles without damaging the power steering pump? Even if I fill up the reservoir, I assume it would all drain out again within a few miles.
I do have a AAA premium membership, so flatbedding is available.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[S4Nye]

i just had the same problem on my 06, it ended up being the rack and pinion and it cost me $1600 from a local indy shop.

[SlickFix]

i just had the same problem on my 06, it ended up being the rack and pinion and it cost me $1600 from a local indy shop.

Were you able to diagnose it yourself? Did you have to flat bed it to your mechanic?

[S4Nye]

it was actually coming out of the boot on the passanger side, blowing out all over my wheel. I drove it to my mechanic, but he was only a few blocks away from my house. I personally wouldn't risk burning up the pump.

[S4Nye]

the local vw dealer had to get the rack from canada, they said they couldn't locate one in the united states. I found a rackdoctor.net, but they needed my core to fix it. I would have save a lot of $$ if I could have went that route.

[noznab]

If it is a hose it's not that bad to replace. Best way would to be at least pull the front bumper off and the belly pan (if you still have one) and take a peek at the lines. Trace them from the PS cooler in the front and look for the tear. Theres a ton of DIY's over on euroaddiction.net that will guide you through removing the bumper and rad support. Removing the bumper on a B6 is super easy too. Really shouldn't take you longer than 20mins if you have the right tools.

[mankytron]

Most likely the return hose blew somewhere along the drivers front frame rail. The hose sits inches from the exhaust manifold. You can change the return hose without removing the bumper, but it will be tricky. It snakes around everything as it comes from the rack to the oil cooler in front of the rad. I just changed mine, and I could not tell whether the pressure or return line had blowen until I removed and examined then both. Not a fun job, but you will save some money by doing the labour yourself. Good luck.

[SlickFix]

I should add that it felt like I threw a belt at the time, but since we don't have a separate ps belt, I automatically thought "hose".

I did take a quick look under the hood, and I could see fluid all around below the pump. Does anyone know a way to determine whether it's the pump itself, or(gasp) the rack? Or do I pretty much have to take a close look at each hose?

[rxbike]

From your description most likely the hose since you were able to drive it as it slowly died from loosing fluid. I had a similar situation and noticed as I drove down the parking lot leaving work that the steering got heavier as I drove. The hose is not a PITA but still took about 90 mins to replace. I think it was about 200 bucks + the fluid which is about 25 bucks for 8 or 10 oz bottle. Its the special mineral oil blend they use.
I guess if you buy a container of oil and fill the reservoir, watch for fluid leak and see if your pump is still working. Don't run it dry since you risk ruining the pump.

[SlickFix]

From your description most likely the hose since you were able to drive it as it slowly died from loosing fluid. I had a similar situation and noticed as I drove down the parking lot leaving work that the steering got heavier as I drove. The hose is not a PITA but still took about 90 mins to replace.

Yours was the return hose from the rack to the oil cooler?

I suppose it's easier if I put the car in service position, but since I've never done that before I'm a little anxious about doing that. Now I hope someone comes along and tells me that putting the car into service position is a breeze.

[Lefthook]

Yours was the return hose from the rack to the oil cooler?

I suppose it's easier if I put the car in service position, but since I've never done that before I'm a little anxious about doing that. Now I hope someone comes along and tells me that putting the car into service position is a breeze.

you don't need to put the car in the service position to get at the PS lines. You will have to pull off the driver's side wheel. It's not terribly difficult but it is time consuming.. my advice would be to replace all the lines.. they're subjected to a lot of heat (another downside of having the precats... if you haven't done piggies yet it helps an awful lot with the heat in the engine compartment...). I replaced all of mine because the last thing I wanted to do was have to open that thing back up again over an extra 100 bucks worth of hoses.

Here's my quick and dirty write up:


http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...=1#post5303893

[SlickFix]

Here's my quick and dirty write up:

Thanks very much for the reply and the DIY!

So, if a person doesn't have the skills or tools to craft that custom 22mm wrench to take the banjo bolt off, is it possible using a regular or stubby box wrench?

[Lefthook]

Take a trip to Sears and just get one of these instead of my hackneyed approach lol

http://www.sears.com/search=22mm%20o...ench&seax22m=1

[Tech/Sales@JHM]

Hey guys,

2005 S4 with 95k miles on the clock.

So I was sitting a red light today and I heard a sudden short, loud "whizz!" or something like that from the front end, and then as I drove home I noticed the steering getting heavier. I drove the 2 miles to get home and shut her off. The power steering reservoir is empty, and the fluid that was in there is now dripping onto my driveway from the back of the belly pan.

SlickFix-

It is quite possible that your Power Steering pump may have failed, due to it running dry. If not, I would recommend replacing it anyway after an event like this because there may be some damage done to it that is not apparent at the time.

These Power Steering Pumps are OEM pumps that are re-manufactured by the OEM supplier ZF. These Power Steering Pumps are guaranteed to last and backed with a 1 year warranty.

Click Me For Power Steering Pump!



If you have any questions or would like help placing an order, feel free to give us a call!

[SlickFix]

Take a trip to Sears and just get one of these instead of my hackneyed approach lol

http://www.sears.com/search=22mm%20o...ench&seax22m=1

Ok, I can find a 22mm offset box wrench somewhere. I thought you custom built yours because there wasn't a retail tool that could do the job. Little did I know that you were just being a cheapskate! j/k.

[Lefthook]

Ok, I can find a 22mm offset box wrench somewhere. I thought you custom built yours because there wasn't a retail tool that could do the job. Little did I know that you were just being a cheapskate! j/k.

mannnnn.. I have like 3 toolboxes full of friggin tools. Air tools, welders, torches.. but the one thing I didn't have is a goddamn offset 22mm box end wrench. And it was quicker to just MAKE one than it was to drive all the way to Sears and get one, lol.

No matter what it is that you need, someone somewhere is selling the retail tool that will do the job. Just depends on how much you want to pay for it! LOL

[mankytron]

I just found the crappiest wrenches I own and did as Lefthook did, and let the torch work its magic. The 3/4 fits the 19mm pressure banjo very well, the 7/8 fits the 22mm return banjo ok, but good enough for this job. It makes tightening/loosening those banjo a breeze.

[SlickFix]

Well, I got the return hose off today, thanks to a 22mm offset box end wrench that I picked up from the local Fleet Farm store. It was a bargain at $4.70!

I also discovered this trick to making things easier: after removing the driver's side wheel and the plastic housing around the tie rod end, turn the key in the ignition to "on" and rotate the steering wheel all the way to the left. This will orient the tie rod end and hub to allow the largest possible space to access the tight confines needed to get the wrench onto the 22mm banjo bolt. Once I did this, I had the banjo bolt off in less than 30 seconds. And then I promptly dropped it!

It fell all the way down behind the engine, stopping onto the frame. I took some doing, but using my headlamp and telescoping magnet tool(a must have in your tool set!), I was able to fish it out from below the car.

On the return hose, there were many cracks in it and one smallish one that had gone all the way through. It wasn't a large one, but obviously enough to spray power steering fluid all over the place when under pressure. I think the smallness of it also explains why my fluid took a couple of miles to drain out.

Anyway, it wasn't a bad job to get the hose out, but it was time consuming. If you take your time and go slow, it's not that bad of a job. I am ordering the hose tonight and hope to have the car back in action by next weekend.

[SlickFix]

Just wanted to give an update. The job is finally done. It was indeed the return hose that was the leaker.

Just a few pointers for anyone in the future considering tackling this job.

The main headache when getting the hose back on, is screwing the banjo bolt back on. As everyone has pointed out, there is almost no room to do this. You are threading it on blind, using your thumb and two fingers. You will also get a sore spot on the back of your hand, where it's being pressed against a metal ridge. As I said before, turning the steering wheel all the way to the left and locking it there, will help tremendously in getting the bolt threaded.

Once threaded, you still have quite a challenge, as even with a store-bought offset wrench there is not enough room to screw it on easily. I got so desperate that I ran to Sears and bought a whole set of stubby box end wrenches, thinking that would do the trick. Nope. I couldn't hold onto the wrench while having it shoved all the way into the hole.

I eventually broke down and decided that I had to move something out of the way to give myself more space. I thought about removing the pressure hose, but that has the same banjo bolt design, and I could see that it would be another nightmare to get that one back on. So, I removed the outer tie rod end from the spindle, and swung it out of the way. This gave me just enough room to tediously screw in the banjo bolt by alternating using the 22mm box end wrench, and a 22mm offset wrench.

On a side note, the pinch bolt on the tie rod end was a piece of cake to get off, compared to the godforsaken job it was on my old B5 A4.

Another tip: I probably should have started by attaching the new hose onto the PS cooler first, but I started at the rack end. If you do it like I did, you can help yourself out by removing the driver's side headlamp. This will give you much more room to work with when trying to snake the hose down through the spaghetti mess of other hoses.

Btw, does anyone know the best way to bleed the power steering system of air? The fluid seemed to be a bit foamy as I had the engine on and was topping off the fluid. Is that normal, or a sign of air?

Well, it was another challenging job, but well worth the money spent. Total cost was $151 for the hose and two pints of CHF-11S fluid, $4.79 for a 22mm offset wrench, $14 for a 22mm box end wrench. The $80 I spent on the set of stubby wrenches doesn't count, because they technically aren't needed for this job.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread and gave me the courage to try it.

[drew]

FML, same shit just happened to me today.

However, when looking in the engine bay right side near the reservoir, I cannot see any sprayed fluid. However, there is a ton of it underneath the car coming out over the belly pan. So is it the pump or hose?

[Lefthook]

Just wanted to give an update. The job is finally done. It was indeed the return hose that was the leaker.

Just a few pointers for anyone in the future considering tackling this job.

The main headache when getting the hose back on, is screwing the banjo bolt back on. As everyone has pointed out, there is almost no room to do this. You are threading it on blind, using your thumb and two fingers. You will also get a sore spot on the back of your hand, where it's being pressed against a metal ridge. As I said before, turning the steering wheel all the way to the left and locking it there, will help tremendously in getting the bolt threaded.

Once threaded, you still have quite a challenge, as even with a store-bought offset wrench there is not enough room to screw it on easily. I got so desperate that I ran to Sears and bought a whole set of stubby box end wrenches, thinking that would do the trick. Nope. I couldn't hold onto the wrench while having it shoved all the way into the hole.

I eventually broke down and decided that I had to move something out of the way to give myself more space. I thought about removing the pressure hose, but that has the same banjo bolt design, and I could see that it would be another nightmare to get that one back on. So, I removed the outer tie rod end from the spindle, and swung it out of the way. This gave me just enough room to tediously screw in the banjo bolt by alternating using the 22mm box end wrench, and a 22mm offset wrench.

On a side note, the pinch bolt on the tie rod end was a piece of cake to get off, compared to the godforsaken job it was on my old B5 A4.

Another tip: I probably should have started by attaching the new hose onto the PS cooler first, but I started at the rack end. If you do it like I did, you can help yourself out by removing the driver's side headlamp. This will give you much more room to work with when trying to snake the hose down through the spaghetti mess of other hoses.

Btw, does anyone know the best way to bleed the power steering system of air? The fluid seemed to be a bit foamy as I had the engine on and was topping off the fluid. Is that normal, or a sign of air?

Well, it was another challenging job, but well worth the money spent. Total cost was $151 for the hose and two pints of CHF-11S fluid, $4.79 for a 22mm offset wrench, $14 for a 22mm box end wrench. The $80 I spent on the set of stubby wrenches doesn't count, because they technically aren't needed for this job.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread and gave me the courage to try it.

[SlickFix]

FML, same shit just happened to me today.

However, when looking in the engine bay right side near the reservoir, I cannot see any sprayed fluid. However, there is a ton of it underneath the car coming out over the belly pan. So is it the pump or hose?

It's hard to say, but in my case I believe the hole in the return hose was on the top, that's why it sprayed it all over the hose area. But maybe yours is on the bottom. Good luck. I was just praying that after I went through all this trouble, it wouldn't still be leaking. But it wasn't.

I will say, though, that I've got a butt-load of air in the system right now. If it's like this in the morning, I've got to try to go through the bleeding procedure. I can literally hear the air and fluid roiling around the in the system. And the pump is moaning like crazy when I move the steering wheel.

[mankytron]

To bleed turn the wheel lock to lock half a dozen to a dozen times with the motor off. Then do it a few times with the motor running. It may take a while to remove all the air. Just give it time.

[SlickFix]

I actually ended up doing a quasi-flush of the fluid using the turkey baster method. I then added new fluid and bled per the Bentley manual. After driving about ten miles, it's back to being quiet as a church mouse.

[drew]

It's hard to say, but in my case I believe the hole in the return hose was on the top, that's why it sprayed it all over the hose area. But maybe yours is on the bottom. Good luck. I was just praying that after I went through all this trouble, it wouldn't still be leaking. But it wasn't.

I will say, though, that I've got a butt-load of air in the system right now. If it's like this in the morning, I've got to try to go through the bleeding procedure. I can literally hear the air and fluid roiling around the in the system. And the pump is moaning like crazy when I move the steering wheel.

Turned out to be just the return hose.

[Lefthook]

To bleed turn the wheel lock to lock half a dozen to a dozen times with the motor off. Then do it a few times with the motor running. It may take a while to remove all the air. Just give it time.

I did mine overnight, bled it then let it sit overnight, bled again, then started, then bled again. I seem to remember getting the message that care needed to be taken to bleed it properly.

[SlickFix]

Well, it's been almost a year since I replaced the return hose, and I'm doing everything I can to keep the power steering pump alive. I did another fluid flush yesterday and bled it out again, but the pump is still whining a bit. I think this is going to be a losing battle in the end, so does anyone know of a DIY for replacing the pump? I googled and couldn't find anything for the 4.2.

As I was under the car doing an inspection yesterday, I took a look at where the pump is, and it seems to be jammed in the space between the engine and the oil pan & subframe. Unfortunately, I couldn't see any of the bolts, so I assume I'm going to have to take the subframe down and support the engine with a jack?

If anyone can give me a brief DIY, I would be extremely grateful. Looks like JHM is going to get me to buy one of their rebuilt pumps afterall!

[ProgMetalHead]

I notice when backing into a parking space, or moving very slowly but turning the wheel a lot in general, an airy noise. Is this normal? I assume it is, but I never noticed it in my A4.

What IS a strange problem is that very, very rarely, when I turn my car on, the power steering isn't working. I turn the car off and back on, and voila; everything is fine. Bizarre.

[AudiTechS4]

here is a little trick to help you guys out. go buy a 22 mm socket (impact socket to keep the razor chrome flakes from cutting you) and grind it down and keep trying it till you get the right size to get the banjo.
Also its pretty common for that return line to pop since is right on top of the frame rail by the exhaust. all you have to do is if you see fluid or whet lines on the frame rail its the return line

[BCsniper]

^^
not a bad idea.

I just took a normal wrench and ground down the outside of the closed end so that it would fit on. There's another line right next to the bolt that gets in the way. Half a turn that way and half a turn with the box end side and it was loose enough I could unscrew with my fingers

Well, it's been almost a year since I replaced the return hose, and I'm doing everything I can to keep the power steering pump alive. I did another fluid flush yesterday and bled it out again, but the pump is still whining a bit. I think this is going to be a losing battle in the end, so does anyone know of a DIY for replacing the pump? I googled and couldn't find anything for the 4.2.

After bleeding did you do turn the wheel lock to lock several times to get all the air out (I think Audi says to to it 10 times)?

I was very surprised that even after driving bone dry with no fluid for awhile everything was just fine after getting the new hose on (pump did whine for a bit while getting all the air out).

[AudiTechS4]

most likely the pump is fine - ive done over 20 of these lines and never replaced the pump. best procedure is to fill and jack up front end and turn wheel lock to lock 10 times , fill res and repeat . then start for 2-3 sen and shut off and fill again. then you should be good. if not repeat process

[SpoolBus]

Mine just blew the return line hose...yeaaa..I'm going to replace both lines to be sure.
Kind of an "oh shit" moment when your driving down the road and the steering stops...

[FWP!]

My girlfriend's 07 S4 Avant just popped one of those lines, I'm guessing it's the return line as it sprayed fluid all over the engine bay on that side. Anyone got any current part numbers for the hoses or whatever else I'll need?

[gcoy]

here is a little trick to help you guys out. go buy a 22 mm socket (impact socket to keep the razor chrome flakes from cutting you) and grind it down and keep trying it till you get the right size to get the banjo.
Also its pretty common for that return line to pop since is right on top of the frame rail by the exhaust. all you have to do is if you see fluid or whet lines on the frame rail its the return line

This is what I did but I used a Dremel with a cutting disk. Worked Great

[gcoy]

My girlfriend's 07 S4 Avant just popped one of those lines, I'm guessing it's the return line as it sprayed fluid all over the engine bay on that side. Anyone got any current part numbers for the hoses or whatever else I'll need?

Return Hose # is
8E1422891AK

[gcoy]

Return Hose # is
8E1422891AK

Sorry, one more time. This thread will help you

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...Small-P-S-Leak

[FWP!]

Thanks man.. Looks like it's available locally from autohausaz which is 20 minutes from me in Tempe. Already bought the wrench I need and some fluid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gcoy]

Great, good luck with the job.,,, Let me know if you run into any issues

[boomer3]

Mine decided to go POP in -32 last night, I'm guessing a combo of worn out heat affected return line, and super high viscosity from the cold but we'll see. Glad to have the DIY's from here, I was planning on pulling the drivetrain this month to do the timing chain stuff and clutch, I guess it was good timing for the ps lines to go, it should be a breeze with all the extra space.

[metalslug]

Same thing happened to me a few weeks back because of the cold weather. It was a loud "whizz" sound and was louder when turning the steering wheel. A local Audi/VW indy shop said my power steering pump was going bad but also the rack and pinon was done (could hear crackin noise when making turns). My third party extended warranty wouldn't cover it and they quoted me over 1k to fix. To prolong the problem they did temp fix with different hose and also did a power steering flush. Noise is gone for now but I need to get it officially fixed.