Need help ID'ing a particular part please

[Michael Peanuts]

I need #5 and the clamps (#4). Can I get part numbers?

Thanks all, I appreciate all the help!

[MikkiJayne]

Whats the year and engine code?

If you order #4 from the dealer they will just supply you with jubilee clips, so you might as well just buy them from any auto parts store

[Michael Peanuts]

Whats the year and engine code?

If you order #4 from the dealer they will just supply you with jubilee clips, so you might as well just buy them from any auto parts store

I got the hose in and installed. We are in the same position still with the steering being tough but "spongey" feeling. Here is something interesting that happened tonight though, we installed the hose and topped up the fluid. We started the car and loosened a couple of nuts on the high pressure line running away from the pump, atop the engine near its rear. Slowly releasing, the steering seemed to go to how it should, I could turn the wheel with a couple of fingers....he tightened the nits but then opened the cap on the reservoir (while the car is still running)to check the fluid and we lost it and the steering is tough again.

So, am I correct in assuming that the cap is, in fact, a 1 way valve? Lets air and fluid out but not in?

If so then we basically had it and lost it.

If we are correct on this assumption, then technically, we should be able to do it again until the wheel feels like it should and then NOT take the cap off while the engine is running.

Sorry if this is laughably silly. I'm trying to wrap my head around how to get the air out of the system.

P.S. A couple of times while pulling of a gas station and the wheel at full lock, its felt normal again, once I get back to around center (straight) its tough/spongey.

[MikkiJayne]

The cap is a breather - it should be open to atmosphere to allow for expansion / contraction of the fluid. There's a little hole in the top of it which goes through a labyrinth to the inside. I can't quite fathom how having the cap on or off would affect the working of the system tbh.

You should be able to bleed the system by just turning the wheel slowly from lock to lock.

It sounds almost like the valve in the rack isn't working...

[Michael Peanuts]

So then, with the car on stands, turning the wheel lock to lock, it should make no difference whether the car is sunning or not? My steering is better now after Friday night, but its still not right.

What is this valve? Is this the check valve that only allows the air to move one way?

Our next move was to do a p/s flush and hope that that moves any air out of the system. I don't want to throw money at this but I'm about ready to replace the res and cap and the hoses that connect to it. I really don't know what else to do. Super frustrating as I'm not very technically inclined and my buddy is, but not so much with VAG machinery.

More on this valve?

[MikkiJayne]

You do need it running to bleed the system. Put it on its wheels and work the steering side to side and it should sort itself out. I always bleed with the reservoir cap loose (but not off) so the fluid level can sort itself out.

By valve I mean the system in the rack which diverts fluid to the piston in the rack. When you turn the wheel it twists a piece in the rack and as it twists it allows fluid to flow one way or the other out of the valve body. That fluid goes in to the two pipes on the body of the rack and basically pushes a piston back and forth to aid moving the steering. I've seen a rack in a mk3 where the twisty bit was broken and so sometimes it worked and others it didn't. That was crunchy though and you could feel it through the wheel. It sort of sounds like your symptoms, but not quite.