Hi all-

A few months ago i started a thread because the steering on my 2009 flying spur was making noise and stiff at idle. My audi dealership determined it was a damaged cooler and hose. That fixed it.
Well, here we are a few months later and the problem came back, just no noise. The steering is completely stiff at idle, but "movable" when revving or over 10mph give or take.

I brought it back to audi, and they don't seem 100% confident as to what's wrong, now. The tech said he spotted a leak "somewhere" around the steering rack. He did a steering fluid flush/replace, and that helped temporarily, but the issue came back in about a day. They suggest i replace the power steering rack AND the steering pump, at a staggering $4000usd.

Do you think i need both the pump and rack replaced? Are the same "parts around them" required to be removed to replace both? ie: could i start by replacing the pump and see if that works? Or do i need to basically remove the rack to get to the pump (meaning i should replace both at the same time for same labor)?

How many hours do you think it'll take to replace each individually, and together? And do you think it'll be a better idea for me to get the pump and rack used vs new?

Thanks for any and all input!
This is for my 2009 flying spur, 82,000miles, VIN: SCBBR93W69C061869

 

I'll throw a few thoughts out there. As always other factors can be at play.

The audio vidio of the steering system makes one suspicious of a bad power steering pump. The pump is likely internally leaking air into the system. The squealing noise is air getting into the power steering system while passing through the high pressure side of the pump.

There is a degree of guessing with the power steering system components. This particular case the suspect components are down to two. My guess is to replace the power steering pump and see what happens.

Further thought, rack and pinion can also
cause the same sound and symptoms. Doubt both components are bad.

 

 

This is likely worth what you're paying for it... and I haven't been into this deep (yet), but:

I have a 2008 GTC I bought as a parts donor car... that's what I thought when I bought it. As it turns out, it's in considerably better condition than I expected, so I'm work in progress of restoring the vehicle to viable again. Anyhoo: I didn't expect the vehicle to start and run.... but with a little charging of the stone dead batteries, to my surprise it did start, it does run and drive, and "pretty well at that". One thing though, when I first fired it up, the power steering pump was growling, the steering was very stiff, and the steering rack had been leaking pretty good from both ends. The pump reservoir was low (or real low), so I topped it up with Pentosin CHF 11S... that quieted the pump to nearly normal and restored the steering ease, but the rack of-course resumed drooling. I figured replacing the rack is a given... I have a low mileage replacement rack sitting on my shelf intending to be installed... but I understand that's likely best done "engine out"... which I'm "work in progress" on that... I nearly have my new workshop built, to house the new two post lift I intend to install, so I can pull the motor to replace the rack and other stuff that likely should be attended to while the motor's out. Anyhoo: I figured there was really no down-side to trying "something", so for "the time being", I added a pretty stiff dose of "Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak" to the system, and am impressed with the results: The steering has become super smooth, the pump is whisper quiet, and the rack has all but quit leaking... just a bit of dampness now at the end boots. I figure on fixing it right, when I get around to it... but for now, what it are is what it is, and it's served my purposes for my situation.

 

To better quantify which component is bad, determining the high pressure line pressure of the steering pump would rule out one component versus another. Should the high pressure side have low pressure that would indicate a bad pump. Normal high side pressure wood indicate the steering rack is bad. A competent shop would understand the concepts and be able to perform the above stated test.