Mot advisory - slight play in steering rack?

[darkmast3r]

I just got my 2004 1.5dci mot'd and thankfully it passed ok but... I have an advisory note saying "slight play in steering rack". I'm not sure if I have to replace the whole steering rack (which is fairly expensive!) or if it just needs track rod ends. Is there an easy way to tell?

[joeishmather]

Can you feel any play yourself? I had mine mot'd at renault and they gave this advisory, the following mot, no mention of any play...

[darkmast3r]

I'm not sure tbh. I haven't noticed anything. This was mot'd at a place that concentrates on mot's. I have a local garage that does some work for me sometimes. I'm thinking about taking it down there just to check it out. I know it will cost me for the inspection but the mot centre failed me last year for headlamp aim and a clip missing from o/s cv boot.

[tomalamix]

rack play its not detectable on MOT. The play they're telling you is almost for sure the steering rod ends (or axial rod). by hand you can feel a "click" on your hand when you push and pull it hard.

cheers

[Vintyd]

I agree with tomalamix my girlfriends car had the same issue but failed MOT was the axial rod, handy enough to replace aswel with a good set of vice grips

[darkmast3r]

Nice one guys, you gonna save me a fortune! will look into getting it sorted in the new year. Is it track rod ends or axial ball joints and also any ideas where I can get them from?

[Vintyd]

Could be either or both, you'll need to jack the car up and then grab the wheel and check for play, if you can you should be able to see if the track rod end is at fault as it will move. You'll need to put your hand on the axial rod which goes into the steering rack and feel for a click as described by tomalamix. You should be able to find videos on youtube to help out

I got the track rod end and axial rod from eurocarparts for around 26 quid so not bad plus you'll save a fortune fitting yourself

[darkmast3r]

Thanks very much for the help. I've just found both parts at eurocarparts and found a video for track rod end, seems easy enough. Just gotta find how east it is to do axial rod.

[Vintyd]

Theres a topic on here about changing it have a search, I actually found it easy enough and i'm not a mechanic just got myself some tools and started getting stuck in. Worst thing about the axial rod is its very awkward to get anything onto it, there is a special tool you can get but I think it's expensive so went for a good pair of vice grips on the smooth round part locked on good and a few hits with the hammer got mine off. When putting on the replacement use some thread lock and its job done

[darkmast3r]

Nice one, thanks for all the advice, its certainly set my mind at rest knowing I dont have to replace the entire steering rack.

[purlin]

Had the same comment on MOT form yesterday. Megane passed ok but its only got 25,000 on the clock you shouldn't be getting these sort of problems at that mileage should you? Read a few posts on another site, one chap reckoned there was no lubricant around the axial ball joints on his Megane! Boots and gaiters etc were in all good condition! Presumably there should be! Although he reckoned there was no way of lubricating it. I wonder, is this 'slight wear' something that can be dealt with before it gets to the fail stage?

[darkmast3r]

Hi Purlin. I found out that my axial ball joints have the slightest amount of play and I mean, slight!
I turned my wheel full lock anticlockwise then grabbed the axial rod and you could notice when i turned it clockwise to anticlockwise there is slight play, maybe a few mil as I'm turning. I haven't fixed mine as yet as I'm waiting for warmer weather but I think it's the rough roads maybe and things like that that cause them to just wear overtime.

[tomalamix]

"slightest" is enough

good luck

[purlin]

Hi darkmast3r,

What sort of mileage do you have on your megane. As i say there's only 20 odd K on mine and thats all on motorways, so no rough stuff! I haven't got the facilities to do any repairs at present. But i was just wondering if i could get a garage to do anything to reduce the wear at all, e.g add lubrication or change the present lubricant thats there at present.

[darkmast3r]

Mine's done 48000 miles. Not sure of it's history as bought from a dealer 18 months ago, but I have a feeling it has been on rough ground.
Since owning it I have replaced both front suspension springs, all 4 bearings and a heap of other stuff. Maybe it's just that the original Renault axial rods are weak, I'm just not sure.
One thing I can say is that my 2004 megane is not built anywhere near as good as my 1998 megane coupe. That thing is like a tank. I've owned it 7 years and the only thing I've replaced is bearings and front oil seal. Thats why I went for the megane II.