Long post, sorry. Just want to share my experience with this rack replacement and warn other V6 GLX owners that the rack is not so easy to replace.
Passenger side rack seals blew out on my 2000 V6. Made it home from Santa Fe New Mexico adding a little Lucas Stop Leak every 200 miles. In all, I got home on 30 dollars worth of that red goo. I had to use that stuff since the VW fluid would just blast out of the rack, it was that bad. Ordered a rebuilt rack and while waiting a few days for it I read all the how-to's and watched every pertinent YouTube vid on the subject. I even have a Bentley and a Haynes and read all that stuff. I felt really ready and was psyched to do this job. I figured six hours, tops. Hah. What a laugh. Not even close.
It took me two full days of back breaking labor. It seems most of the info available is heavily slanted to the 4 cylinder car. If you have a 6, like I do, be prepared to work at it! I found one thread started by a member who ran into the same problem I had on the ATQ engine cars. The problem is that there are blasted heat shields and obstructions devilishly blocking the already difficult access to the blasted "third bolt". This is the bolt that you access from below the rack.
It took me 3 hours to finally get a socket on that bolt so that I could unscrew it. It is completely obscured. I tried to move and bend as much heat shield out of the way but could never see the bolt from below. I was truly about remove a transmission mount to see if I could get to it that way.
I got lucky in the fifth hour of the first day when I made yet another stab for that bolt when my wrench actually caught it. Man, was I happy. I put all the spin I could muster on the wrench but did not have enough strength/leverage to loosen the bolt. Dagnab it! This was the same wrench I used to unscrew the top two bolts. All the bolts were supposed to be at 48 ft lbs. VW is pranking me by torqueing this darn bolt to about 90 foot pounds plus making it invisible. Thanks VW!
If I let the socket wrench go the socket would drop down from the bolt and I would lose it. Out of the corner of my eye, while lying on my back, I spied my torque wrench a few feet away from me. It's long for good leverage and it is a ratcheting type so I could use it to break the bolt loose without abusing the wrench too much. Too bad my breaker bar was in the trunk. Well I stretched as much as I could and grasped the wrench and hooked it up to my extensions while praying the socket would not slide down from the bolt. I was finally successful in breaking the bolt free.
That bolt is never going back into the rack. I will take my chances with two properly torqued and loctited bolts. I have read that is all that is truly needed, anyway.
I finished the job the next day. That all went quite well but the fluid lines are truly a bear to get back into place. I used new crush washers and bought twice as many as I needed because I knew the car would eat a few as I fumbled trying to get the banjo bolts installed. Luckily, every time I dropped one it fell to the ground in front of me.
So here's a tip. If you drop one of the banjo bolts you will be very unhappy because you need both bolts to finish the job. Put a shop rag under the fitting there so if the bolt falls you might catch it if you are lucky. The downside of this is that there is hardly much room to work in there as it is. At one time I was lying on the fender with my arm thrusted all the way into the wheel well trying to finesse a banjo bolt to turn enough for the threads to bite. I looked like I was trying to make a difficult pool shot. Not fun at all.
I think that if you own a Passat the clock is ticking on your rack. Passenger side leaks seem to be a thing with the V6 Passat. In fact, just last month I replaced the right axle differential seal as it was leaking like crazy. Naturally the next month the power steering goes. It is always something with this car.
Unfortunately for me, I love this car like crazy and will keep it until I run out of strength, money, or time to repair it. I've only got 108,000 miles on it and everything works. Even the trunk light. It has been a battle though. You know what I mean.
So I do apologize for this long post but I'm hoping that it will help those with the ATQ engine to more accurately assess the difficulty of this job before they attempt it. Also it is therapeutic for me to just vent a bit about this darn job. Honestly, after many hours on my back that first day I was entertaining thoughts of getting a flat bed to haul my car to the nearest Euro car shop. I have done timing belts, water pump, brakes, etc. you name it on this car and the steering rack is by far the most gruesome, appalling, and awful job I've tackled on it. So be warned.
P.S. If you have a 1.8T don't be telling me that I'm a crybaby and this job is cake. I'll only listen to the ATQ'ers on this one!
Passenger side rack seals blew out on my 2000 V6. Made it home from Santa Fe New Mexico adding a little Lucas Stop Leak every 200 miles. In all, I got home on 30 dollars worth of that red goo. I had to use that stuff since the VW fluid would just blast out of the rack, it was that bad. Ordered a rebuilt rack and while waiting a few days for it I read all the how-to's and watched every pertinent YouTube vid on the subject. I even have a Bentley and a Haynes and read all that stuff. I felt really ready and was psyched to do this job. I figured six hours, tops. Hah. What a laugh. Not even close.
It took me two full days of back breaking labor. It seems most of the info available is heavily slanted to the 4 cylinder car. If you have a 6, like I do, be prepared to work at it! I found one thread started by a member who ran into the same problem I had on the ATQ engine cars. The problem is that there are blasted heat shields and obstructions devilishly blocking the already difficult access to the blasted "third bolt". This is the bolt that you access from below the rack.
It took me 3 hours to finally get a socket on that bolt so that I could unscrew it. It is completely obscured. I tried to move and bend as much heat shield out of the way but could never see the bolt from below. I was truly about remove a transmission mount to see if I could get to it that way.
I got lucky in the fifth hour of the first day when I made yet another stab for that bolt when my wrench actually caught it. Man, was I happy. I put all the spin I could muster on the wrench but did not have enough strength/leverage to loosen the bolt. Dagnab it! This was the same wrench I used to unscrew the top two bolts. All the bolts were supposed to be at 48 ft lbs. VW is pranking me by torqueing this darn bolt to about 90 foot pounds plus making it invisible. Thanks VW!
If I let the socket wrench go the socket would drop down from the bolt and I would lose it. Out of the corner of my eye, while lying on my back, I spied my torque wrench a few feet away from me. It's long for good leverage and it is a ratcheting type so I could use it to break the bolt loose without abusing the wrench too much. Too bad my breaker bar was in the trunk. Well I stretched as much as I could and grasped the wrench and hooked it up to my extensions while praying the socket would not slide down from the bolt. I was finally successful in breaking the bolt free.
That bolt is never going back into the rack. I will take my chances with two properly torqued and loctited bolts. I have read that is all that is truly needed, anyway.
I finished the job the next day. That all went quite well but the fluid lines are truly a bear to get back into place. I used new crush washers and bought twice as many as I needed because I knew the car would eat a few as I fumbled trying to get the banjo bolts installed. Luckily, every time I dropped one it fell to the ground in front of me.
So here's a tip. If you drop one of the banjo bolts you will be very unhappy because you need both bolts to finish the job. Put a shop rag under the fitting there so if the bolt falls you might catch it if you are lucky. The downside of this is that there is hardly much room to work in there as it is. At one time I was lying on the fender with my arm thrusted all the way into the wheel well trying to finesse a banjo bolt to turn enough for the threads to bite. I looked like I was trying to make a difficult pool shot. Not fun at all.
I think that if you own a Passat the clock is ticking on your rack. Passenger side leaks seem to be a thing with the V6 Passat. In fact, just last month I replaced the right axle differential seal as it was leaking like crazy. Naturally the next month the power steering goes. It is always something with this car.
Unfortunately for me, I love this car like crazy and will keep it until I run out of strength, money, or time to repair it. I've only got 108,000 miles on it and everything works. Even the trunk light. It has been a battle though. You know what I mean.
So I do apologize for this long post but I'm hoping that it will help those with the ATQ engine to more accurately assess the difficulty of this job before they attempt it. Also it is therapeutic for me to just vent a bit about this darn job. Honestly, after many hours on my back that first day I was entertaining thoughts of getting a flat bed to haul my car to the nearest Euro car shop. I have done timing belts, water pump, brakes, etc. you name it on this car and the steering rack is by far the most gruesome, appalling, and awful job I've tackled on it. So be warned.
P.S. If you have a 1.8T don't be telling me that I'm a crybaby and this job is cake. I'll only listen to the ATQ'ers on this one!
