Steering rack

[UndertheRadar]

Has anyone else had a rack failure?

Im assuming it’s just my usual horrendous luck with cars, but my rack is making noises again, not even a year after they replaced it the last time. Waiting to see if they’ll replace it again as it hasn’t even done 5k since it was fitted. 
My mates convinced someone doesn’t like me and has a voodoo doll they’ve used to curse me. 

[ApertureS]

When you say the rack has failed again. Do you know what failed specifically the first time on the rack, and what has failed this time?

[UndertheRadar]

45 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

When you say the rack has failed again. Do you know what failed specifically the first time on the rack, and what has failed this time?

No. It was under warranty so we didn’t strip it last time. Both times it cracks badly in either direction when nearing the limit of turn. 
So say the last half turn in either direction. 
sounds like when a bearing fails for example, and cracks when turning. 
Had to remove links to even tell it was in the rack. Stands out a mile inside the car, but needed a scope to tell it was coming from the rack from engine bay. 

[J.R.]

Is this not the thing that happens when someone gets the bolt lengths muddled when changing the dogbone bushes or is that another vehicle?

[ApertureS]

23 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Is this not the thing that happens when someone gets the bolt lengths muddled when changing the dogbone bushes or is that another vehicle?

It could happen on these as well, if you sent the dogbone bolt through the rack youd make a bit of a mess!

 

Its hard to say what could be causing it without  an actual strip down of the rack to find the cause. Could be something as weird as a misaligned subframe causing excess caster and pressure on one side of the rack (as an example)

[UndertheRadar]

Bolts are fitted correctly and alignment is perfect. The time spent making sure was way over what a customers car would get. 
Hunter 4 wheel alignment with a dedicated alignment ramp used to confirm. 
Skoda tech not surprised and 87 racks in stock from TPS. 
Part of the noise from the front was still there after replacing arms etc weeks ago, and only had a chance to track it down yesterday on a free ramp. 
It’s really just down to my shocking luck with cars. ☹️

 

[MartiniB]

on my previous ŠS 2016. 220ps were replaced 3x under warranty -

after 21.2k, 45.2k and 26k Km, what minimized rattle, but not solved

 

[ApertureS]

7 hours ago, UndertheRadar said:

Bolts are fitted correctly and alignment is perfect. The time spent making sure was way over what a customers car would get. 
Hunter 4 wheel alignment with a dedicated alignment ramp used to confirm. 
Skoda tech not surprised and 87 racks in stock from TPS. 
Part of the noise from the front was still there after replacing arms etc weeks ago, and only had a chance to track it down yesterday on a free ramp. 
It’s really just down to my shocking luck with cars. ☹️

 

I’d love to see what’s going on in the rack. 
 

is it just making a noise? No play or notching? What kind of noise? A scraping or a knocking?

[UndertheRadar]

35 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

I’d love to see what’s going on in the rack. 
 

is it just making a noise? No play or notching? What kind of noise? A scraping or a knocking?

The car tracks perfectly straight and steers just as well. No play/wander or feeling of any description while driving. It feels absolutely 100%. 
The last half turn more or less in either direction sounds like your turning something on failed bearings when slow turning like parking etc. 
Exact same symptoms as last time. 
I never thought at the time but should have asked TPS if they had similar stock of all variants of the rack or higher amounts of the variable version. 
I looked into the schematics the last time and I remember drawing the conclusion of what probably caused the noise in the previous rack, but my TBI is brutal now, and I remember looking but not any other real memory of what conclusion I came to or why. I’d have to start again and I’m at the stage I’d forget the previous paragraph as soon as I got to the next one. I rely heavily on my friend these days as my trust in myself is severely diminished. 

[xman]

A lot of fabia ii facelift models suffered similar symptoms. Down to failing steering (track) rod inner ball joint rusting up.

 

Problem caused by incorrect grease and water getting in via faulty concertina boot sealing.

 

Check they used the correct metal sealing clips on the rack concertina boots and not just ty-wraps like my dealer did, leading to another failure after a short while.

 

https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/561423810-track-rod-skoda-34148.html