I spent the best part of 4 hours trying to get the pair of hydraulic pipes out of the engine bay - the high pressure one from the pump to the rack and the return from the rack to the reservoir. In the end, I managed to get them out, but it was a pig of a job.

I suppose my question is: Is there a knack to fitting the replacements I've had made up? Is it easier to start threading the pipes in from a particular point in the engine bay or perhaps from under the car?

Any suggestions would be appreciated....before I dive in with a bit of trial & error.

Welcome to the forum.

It's a pig of a job, much easier if you could get the car on a hoist or over an inspection pit. It's easy of course at the factory, they put 'em in before the engine!

Providing that you have a pipe bender (don't try bending them without one, you can bend brake pipes with your fingers, but, due to the larger diameter, these will kink if you attempt anything more than a VERY gentle curve without the use of a pipe bender) it may be easier to put the bends on as you go along, rather than start with a completely formed pipe.

Whatever method you adopt, be sure that the pipes have been blown out with compressed air before you fit them, and make sure that the ends are caped to prevent the ingress of dirt as you are fitting them, remember that dirt is the number one enemy of any hydraulic system.

Regards.

Thanks for the welcome, reply and advice.

Sorry, but I didn't really make my original post that clear.

I have already had a set of pipes make up, which match the original ones (ie rigid steel pipe with flexible jointing) so am sort of hoping someone has already experienced the pain of fitting them (with the engine in!). I should have taken more notice when I took the old ones out, but I was that fed up with trying every which way to get them out, that I didn't care how they actually came out!

I'm guessing there is a bit of a knack to it, perhaps feeding the pipes from underneath first?

Anyway, any suggestions gratefully received!

Right, I took the plunge and had a go at fitting the pipes, with a little trial and error and thought I'd give others the benefit of my experience....

All I would say is that before you remove the old pipes, make a sketch of how they are threaded around the engine bay!

To make access easier, I removed the battery, battery box, wiring harness plug (feeding lights near the slam panel) & plastic trim on front apron (to allow better access to pipe union on top of steering pump).

To be honest, feeding in the pipes seemed to be a little easier than taking them out, but that may just be because the replacement pipes had smaller diameter flexible hoses, which were a little less rigid and allowed for a bit more flexibility when trying to thread the pipes in.

NOTE: I bought the replacement pipes from a company on eBay called power-steering-store. The pipes are not genuine VAG items, but are a good match and only required a little 'massaging' to fit. On top of that, power-steering-store have 100% feedback.

For both pipes, I started around the battery.

I fed in the shorter, return pipe (reservoir to rack) first and fed the section down to the rack first, which then left me with a short section of steel pipe and flexible hose to feed around the battery area and up towards the reservoir. I didn't clip in the pipe or connect it until both pipes were in situ.

The high pressure hose (pump to rack) was a bit more involved, but again I started at the battery box area and fed in the section down to the rack first and then 'massaged' the remaining section around the battery box, feeding it down behind the slam panel and along to the pump.

It was only then did I start connecting the pipes, starting with the connections at the rack as it was best to have as much play in the pipes at this point for lining up the bolts. The flexible connection to the reservoir was simple enough and with the trim on front lower apron now off, access to the pipe union on top of the pump was simple. Trim the pipes into their clips, checking that they are not rubbing the body/chassis anywhere and you're done.

Once the reservoir was filled, battery reconnected and the engine was started, there was quite a bit of noise from the steering pump as there was quite a bit of air in the system. Moving the steering from lock-to-lock eventually expelled the air (making sure to keep topping up the fuid in the meantime) and now everything's back to normal....

Very helpful thanks just about to do mine. No power steering for 6 months my shoulders are massive lol

Very helpful thanks just about to do mine. No power steering for 6 months my shoulders are massive lol

Out of interest, were you running around with a power-assisted rack, which was dry? Was the pump still on and being driven?

If so, does that them suggest that running a power-assisted rack as a manual rack (with pump and drive belt still on) is a real possibility, albeit at a risk of developing arms like Arnie!

A mechanic told me in no uncertain terms that I shouldn't drive the car with no power steering fluid in. I have had no money time or inclination to fix it so have had no choice but to drive it. I will take my chance with the pump when I put new pipes on. It may be knackered but that's the price ill have to pay.

Regarding the steering, it is mammoth heavy at stopped parking speeds and the only other time I would say it's dangerous would be if you got badly out of shape and needed to apply counter steer lock quickly. Over steer does bring a hint of steering pull with it but when the steering is that heavy I think it would be a struggle to catch a tank slapper.

I have the need to replace the leaking high pressure power steering pipe on my 1996 1.4 CL polo 6N and have managed to obtain one from the supplier mentioned above called power-steering-store on eBay. He's a very helpful chap and made one up for me for £70 plus £10 P&P. It came in a massive cardboard box to protect it which probably explains why the P&P seems high but I think the postage cost was actually higher than £10 so he effectively subsidised the P&P slightly! Now I've read the previous posts on this thread I wonder if someone can add greater knowledge to brovagen's very useful posts above. I absolutely agree about removing the battery and battery tray and the importance of removing the plastic trim under the bumper to get a spanner (17mm) in onto the union nut where the high pressure pipe bolts into the pump. I've got both ends of the high pressure pipe undone, I've removed the pipe from all the clips along its entire length but I'm not sure how to get the pipe out from the engine compartment without damaging it. Looking down into the engine compartment from above does it rotate out from underneath in a clockwise direction? i.e. moving the pipe towards the pump end and downwards or does it need to be rotated anti-clockwise and removed from underneath through the gap near where the pipe is bolted to the steering rack? (i.e. through the gap I was able to put my socket and ratchet up through to undo the union bolt from underneath the car?) I agree there must be a knack to this and assume someone must know. Its probably got to come out from below because the gearbox mounting blocks the removal in an upward direction but exactly how to manipulate the pipe to remove it without damage is the key thing. It's important I know how to do it properly so that when fitting the replacement pipe, I can do it with minimum risk of damaging a new pipe. Does anyone know or has anyone got access to any VAG repair manuals where the removal and or re-fitting technique and pipe manipulation technique might be explained? The Haynes manual simply says replace a leaking pipe!!!

I'm still struggling to get the pipe out and I've now disconnected a wiring connector to the head and will try disconnecting the clutch cable and the engine earth lead and try again. I'd really like to hear from anyone who has done this successfully to know how to manipulate the pipe to get it out, which way to remove it and just what needs to be removed or disconnected to achieve removal of the pipe.