1997 1.8 Cabriolet

[JimSharp39]

Another question if you don't mind. Just had a good look over my new wheels and can see that the power steering rack gaiter has a split in it. Odd to see that it only has one - never had a car that works that way before, but I can see clearly how it works.

Replacement looks fairly straightforward - can anyone who's done this before confirm if there are any pitfalls to watch out for?

Also when it comes to replacing the PS fluid: the car's done 100k miles. I know it takes the mineral fluid, but is there any harm/benefit to adding for instance the STP fluid or slick 50 fluids which aim to "condition" old racks (presumably by swelling the seals). Neither of these products say that they are unsuitable for VAG racks - in fact the STP expressly sais suitable for all systems. Thoughts gratefully received.

A general question - is my cab based on the 80 or 90 (or is there even much difference between those 2??). Is there a handy manual for DIY-ers like myself? I had a look at the Haynes website and can see that they dont do oue. Mine has the ADR engine.
Jim

[scotty33]

I have not changed that gaiter, but I did replace my track rods, which is most of the way there.
The bolts that hold the track rods to the end of the rack are screwed into the rack itself as well as having the locknuts on the back. I also found it easier to position the rack in 2 different positions for doing the bolts from the front and doing the nuts from underneath.
I don't know if an additive would damage the seals, but in my opinion, most leaky racks are due to normal atf being used instead of the Audi mineral oil, why risk it?
cab is based on the 80, but probably has plenty in common with the earlier type 89 cars. If you were to get the 80/90 coupe manual and an early a4 or b5 passat manual for the engine, you would probably have a lot of it covered. There are workshop manuals on dvd on e bay, not sure how 'legal' these are, but could be a cheap source of good info. and there is vag cat which gets you part no.s and exploded views for free:

http://www.vagcat.com/

[JimSharp39]

cheers Scotty, spot on
Jim