VERY tight steering / whining noise / fluid leak

[RS6_M_U]

Hey all -

Just wanted to hop on here and ask around for everyone's opinion. I drove my RS6 today, parked it backwards like always, everything was normal. When I went to leave, I took two left turns. Still normal. When I came up to my third left turn, the steering wheel almost felt like it locked, but I was able with turn it with both hands. It continued to be very hard to turn, both directions until I got home. There was a whining noise when I would turn, and also if I had any pressure on the wheel while at a stop. Once I got home, I popped the hood, all sounded normal while the car was still running. I looked under the car, and noticed some leaking. It is on the drivers side. Close to the wheel. Granted I have a splash guard so I'm not 100% sure that's an accurate location of the leak. The fluid is cold (so is the ground thought) its clearish, a little yellow haze to it. Oily in feels and smells really bad, like grease but stinks. Im only assuming its something power steering related. Like the pump. But, when I saw the liquid, it made me secound guess, and wonder if its more than just that. The car would make a slight whine when turning really hard since I got it (2 months ago). The car has 68k on it.

Any suggestions? Ideas? Things to check?

Thanks in advance!

[lswing]

Those were my exact symptoms when my steering rack started leaking...actually only when it emptied out. Open hood, right side, green cap, green fluid should be full, it's Pentosin. What's in there, and how much?

Note, you can remove the rack without pulling the engine but it's still a pain.

Note 2, I hope you got $2-4k off on the price as that's about the repair cost, assuming that's it.

[RS6_M_U]

Power steering reservoir is empty. Was very hard to undo the cap and smoke came from it. Once we dropped the belly pan, we saw that the leak was near the front of the car. Behind the radiator. There was power steering fluid on the A.C. compressor.

[lswing]

I'd be tempted to flush the system, worry is about metal flakes from the pump impeller. Get Pentosin green, fix the leak, hope the pump isn't damaged too much, and hopefully no broken or metal pieces are in the system. Think there's a screen/filter in the pump, others will know more. Check coolant and oil while you're there!

This. http://www.amazon.com/Pentosin-CHF-S...KW8QXG3ZHWVKW4

[RS6_M_U]

Thanks for the suggestions! I don't know if the pump is bad. But if it is, would fluid ever leak from just it?

And is there a way to test the lines to find out if one is leaking. They are all not cheap ...

[lswing]

You may have destroyed the pump running it dry, or caused metal chips from the impeller. I think there's an inline filter somewhere to check? Fill it back up, run, move wheel left to right parked to get fluid through complete system, check level again, start looking for the leak. If you can let it sit try a smoke test since it's empty? Still I'd wait for more info, I just watch my mechanic work on stuff

[RS6_M_U]

Update! (:

So ... I wanted to update this post, just incase anyone can find it helpful when they run into the same issues that I was having.

After taking the front end off, practically putting it into "service mode", kind of like you would do for the timing belt, we found no obvious areas that would tell us where the fluid was flowing out of. Once removing the belt to get to the power steering pulley, we did noticed that there was A LOT of play in the pulley where it attaches to the power steering pump. We thought for sure that this was it. We ordered the power steering pump, the pulley, banjo bolts and washers along with new fluid. Finally got around to putting everything on this weekend. Problem not solved.

Luckily though, once in service mode, it made it much easier to see where the fluid was coming out of. Ended up being the hose the runs from the oil cooler to the reservoir. This is a low pressure hose. So we took the old one to a parts store and bought the proper length of oil resistant hose to replace it with. This hose has two reducers inside of it. We cut them out after breaking the clamps on the old hose and put them in the new hose with new clamps as close as we could get them in the new hose. Finally. Put back together at the end of the night and has been driving great since. I sure have missed driving the Mystical Unicorn!

[mdegracia]

Note: do not run the car to actuate the pump to displace fluid, unlock steering wheel and manually move a wheel back and forth at the tire to pump the fluid. This will avoid damaging the pump...