Leak from steering rack

[NJGuy]

My EX had rolled over 95K, and it was due for an oil change. No problem, I'll just head on over to the dealership and let them crawl under the car and do their multi-point inspection while they're at it. So upon completion of the job, the service advisor has two things to report to me about my EX.

1. Rear brakes are worn to 3mm; recommend replacement. Ok, fine, I kind of knew that going in; No big deal, I can knock out on a free weekend.
2. You guessed it, as it's stated in the topic of this thread. Ugh. Ok, how much to fix it? Well, a bit over $2K for a steering rack replacement & alignment. Ugh. Not something I can knock out on a free weekend, if at all.

I did ask my local independent mechanic for an estimate, and surprisingly it was very close to what the dealership would be charging. This was mostly because he only recommended using an OEM rack; he said the aftermarket ones are questionable in quality. So the plan is to get the rack replaced by the dealership. That way, I can get a free loaner while the car is being worked on.

Ok, that's the bad news. If it's any consolation for me, the good news is that the leak isn't bad enough yet to cause concern over the safety of my car's occupants or the other people around me when I drive. The fluid level doesn't seem to have dropped either. So why get the repair done? Well, I don't expect the leak to stop, and it would probably only worsen from here on. Provided that other issues like this don't show up, my wife and I plan to keep the car to at least 150K, which might be about 3 years for us. And if possible we'll keep it even beyond that. So I figure we might as well get the EX fixed up for these next few years.

While I'm a bit bothered by the issue, I do understand that these things happen, especially as cars get older and pile on the miles. However, this is the second time I've personally seen it on the cars I've driven. The first was on my parent's Honda Civic at 19 years old with around 200K, which is definitely understandable. I don't even recall their late 80's Chrysler products having this issue (but they did have others), though one of them had some other kind of steering issue for as long as I could remember.

My recommendation to you all: If your EX is getting up there in years or mileage, I'd say to change out the power steering fluid. The 2008 FSM calls out either Nissan PSF or a Dex VI ATF. I'm not sure if the cause of my leak was due to old fluid or a sub-par seal, but I still would have liked to at least try to prevent the issue when I had the chance. I guess I never thought much about it before. I thought I was somewhat diligent in getting my fluids changed. But I don't think Infiniti has a power steering fluid change interval in any of their publications for the EX. And I don't believe the other cars I've owned had one either.

Hopefully this is the last time I'll ever have a leaking steering rack; I'm not sure if this will be as much of an issue with cars that have electric power steering, as it looks like most cars in the future will be equipped this way.

[XIS]

Hmmmm.... I think I would wait if the level hasn't dropped and it isn't leaving anything on the garage floor yet. It could be some very minor seepage that has just accumulated over the years. Maybe just a hose or a fitting/connection/o-ring? Are you 100% sure it is the rack and it is actually leaking?? The reason I ask is that I think I made that mistake when I bought my wife's RX330... It was leaking, I did a couple quick forum searches and found that the RX330 racks had issues, so I just assumed that is what our issue was. I took it to an independent shop and asked for an aftermarket rack... when they were changing it, they came to me and said that the high pressure hose needed to be changed too. (not cheap either) and it wasn't until months later when I was looking at the receipt did I put it all together that I "think" my issue was JUST THE HOSE!

I completely agree with you on changing the fluid if you haven't done so. I have drained and re-filled the reservoir a couple times at around 70K with the DEX VI and it cleaned it up a tiny bit. I need to do it some more for sure.

Electric power steering... so far, I like it. My son's new 2008 Civic SI has EPS and I love it. Super smooth. Nothing to leak, no hoses or reservoirs in the engine bay, cooler and I don't think there is any extra pressure on the system when the wheel is cranked all the way to one side or the other. I like it a lot.

[NJGuy]

You could be right that the leak could be due to something else. I'm not 100% sure, maybe 80% or so. I'm always wary of a dealership's attempts at up-selling services, but my mechanic had a look at it as well. The leak is around one of the boots, so it's likely that the fluid has started to make its way past the inner seals. I don't think anyone would know 100% until it comes out; I haven't looked at it closely, but it appears that the fluid supply lines and such can't be seen that easily unless everything is disassembled.

I know I could wait longer before getting the rack swapped out, but my wife drives the car too. I wouldn't want her dealing with a leaky PS system (nor would she ).

And to top things off, I just noticed that my rear window and side mirror defroster doesn't want to turn on ; just as fall has arrived. I'll try to do a quick troubleshoot when I get the chance, though I'm not sure what I'll do with it later on.

[Chelsea John]

Hopefully this is just a blown fuse....

And to top things off, I just noticed that my rear window and side mirror defroster doesn't want to turn on ; just as fall has arrived. I'll try to do a quick troubleshoot when I get the chance, though I'm not sure what I'll do with it later on.

[NJGuy]

Hopefully this is just a blown fuse....

Yeah, that's the first thing I was going to check. Just need to find it first...

[nate2011]

Good luck with all the service... The $2K seems like a lot for anything in terms of parts & labor ... but also a small price to pay for peace of mind.

I do not like the feeling of really not knowing and the possibility of being up sold by a dealership to a replacement when there's really something less going on... the gut meter is often hard to read in these situations.

Let us know how things turn out.

[AWGD8]

NJ:

Sorry to hear all your troubles. My EX35 is already at 78k miles and I just flushed the steering fluid today. I bought a steering fluid from local Nissan dealership 2-3 months ago, but did not have a time to do it, until I read your issue with the steering and motivated me to flush it today.

It is very easy to flush the steering fluid.
- I had to remove the passenger side air intake box.
-A lot easier if you have the front tires jacked up on a stand.
I basically suction the reservoir, instead of draining , less mess.

-Then I removed the return line that is connected under the reservoir ( rubber lines closer to the front headlight)

- I grabbed my old 5/16 rubber hose with small tube adapter and connected to the return line rubber hose.

- Redirected the 5/16 hose to an empty plastic pan or container.

- Turn the push button to accessories.

- Make a full rotation of the steering wheel all the way to left and hold it for a few seconds and do the opposite direction. You can hear more fluid comes out of the return line going to the empty pan.

- I did not start the car since my airbox is out and my MAF sensor is not connected.

- Once all the fluid is out by the steering end to end turning, then reconnect the return line to the resevior.

-Connect the Airbox and MAF sensor.

- Start the engine for 5 seconds and turn the steering end to end quickly (Wierd noise coming from the steering pump) Shut the engine off. (I did this to see if there are more old fluids returning to the empty reservoir, but none)

@ -Fill the Steering fluid reservoir to Cold Max line.

- Open the reservoir cap and push button in Accessories and start turning the steering wheel lock to lock (both direction) You can actually just stand outside the driver side door and rotate the steering wheel. You can actually see the reservoir from that position and everytime you hold the steering (8 secs) lock from one end, the fluid in the reservoir deminish then you have to add a bit of fresh steering fluid.

- Be careful to overfill. Whenever you rotate the steering wheel from one end (The fluid in the reservoir move towards the low line indicator, but as you rotate back to the center position (front tires are straight) the fluid goes back to Max Cold line. Once this happens, the last thing you need to do is to rack the steering wheel 10-15 times (lock to lock) so the air in the system goes back to the resevoir (cap is removed) .

- Wait until the bubbles are all gone inside the reservoir and put the cap back.

- Lower the front tires and start the engine. Rotate the steering wheel 5 times to see if the noise from the pump is gone. (It should sound normal this time)

- The steering wheel is now smooth to rotate. My wife first complain on the EX35 steering wheel before the fluid change was heavy, but after the fluid was change, she was very happy, very light to maneuver and smooth...I should have done this earlier...

*** If I have to do this again, I will just suction all the fluid in the reservoir as most Nissan and Infiniti member normally do. Once you suction all the fluid in the reservoir, rotating the steering wheel lock to lock pushes the old fluid back to the reservoir. Then just suction it again until nothing comes out... Start the engine and see if more fluid comes back to the resrvoir, but do this very quickly as it is bad for the steering pump. If nothing comes back to the reservoir, start filling it with new fluid and follow the procedure above. @

[NJGuy]

So on to the next chapter of the story. Hopefully it's the final one .

I had my wife take the car in on Tuesday morning. The service dept. said that they wanted to keep the car a few days to make sure there were no other leaks after installation. No problem really, they offered us a loaner car. We got a Q40, which is what I requested. My wife didn't like the Q50 she had one time, as she thought it was too high-tech and didn't have time to learn even easy stuff like changing the radio station. We would both be driving the loaner and we wanted something with an interface for everything similar to our EX. The Q40 fit the bill.

The car wasn't "done" until Thursday afternoon, but we couldn't get it until Friday morning. As I mentioned before, the job added up to just under $2.1K. ~$1,600 for the rack, ~$250 for the labor, ~$115 for the alignment, and tax. I was surprised that altogether it came out a couple of bucks cheaper than my mechanic's out-the-door price.

While the car was in the possession of the dealership, something odd happened. It turns out one of the throttle bodies had developed an internal failure. I don't think it had anything to do with the wrenching that the tech had done on the steering rack replacement. Nonetheless, the dealership decided to cover that repair for us free of charge. While the dealer did not list the pricing for this repair on our invoice, they casually mentioned to my wife that it "cost" them about $700 for a replacement throttle body and 1.5 hours of labor (~$190). I'm thinking that this is the reason why our car wasn't ready earlier. I was almost ecstatic that they didn't charge for this issue; but it does make me question the reliability of the car's components and think about what other issues would crop up as the car ages. I did notice that the engine seems to be a bit smoother than before after startup when shifting to reverse.

Now that I have the car back, the steering feels pretty much the same as before. The only difference I notice is that my old rack had an intermittent groan when the system wasn't warmed up.

Without taking up too much time, there are a few things I want to mention.
1. The Q40 was a blast to drive. I thought that my EX was quick. But with less weight, more power, and more gears, the Q40 was entirely on another level; and I don't even think I pushed it even close to its limits. In addition, mostly everything about the drive (except for the transmission) felt tighter than in the EX. My wife may want a QX60 as a loaner next time, but I know what I'd request if given the choice.
2. My view on Infinti's products is starting to sour a bit with these component failures before 100K. I'm not sure if its a design/manufacturing issue, or just bad luck on my part. But my wife and I will definitely take these things into account in our next vehicle purchase. The Infiniti dealership, on the other hand, has been great. I'm not only happy about the freebie fix they gave us, but also because their pricing was competitive and included a free rental as well. So I feel the need to express my happiness with Salerno Duane Infiniti of Denville once again .

[AWGD8]

I am glad everything is fixed on the EX. I am just wondering if the rack (seals etc) was fixed or just replaced? It seems like they just fixed something and asked you to pay 2K and make it appears that you got a free fixed on the throttle body issue... Hard to know the truth unless you asked to take home the old steering rack..


I have a 2015 Q40 AWD as my DD for work and basically, just use my 2008 EX35 Awd (79k miles now) for the weekend drive. It is really a night and day difference with the handling and pickup.

The only thing that I noticed on my EX35 after my last oil change is the lowend pickup. It has a better acceleration off the line below 3k. This started when I replaced the oil filter with a larger size filter that the V8 Nissan/Infiniti cars/truck normally use.

[googleman]

2. My view on Infinti's products is starting to sour a bit with these component failures before 100K. I'm not sure if its a design/manufacturing issue, or just bad luck on my part. But my wife and I will definitely take these things into account in our next vehicle purchase. The Infiniti dealership, on the other hand, has been great. I'm not only happy about the freebie fix they gave us, but also because their pricing was competitive and included a free rental as well. So I feel the need to express my happiness with Salerno Duane Infiniti of Denville once again .

Glad that things are back in working order, but my experience with Infiniti suggests that this will likely not be the last, and if I were you, I would consider getting rid of it before it gets more expensive.

I am a bit disillusioned about Infiniti's quality overall. Setting aside all the usual suspects (fuel pump, multiple steering rack issues, faulty wheel bearing, etc), recently the reverse gear started slipping occasionally on my 2008 EX, which only has 35k miles (I have another car that I use occasionally and I try to bike to work when weather permits, hence the low mileage) The dealer (Herb Chambers Infiniti of Boston) thinks that the issue is internal and suggests either I drive it like this (it affects just the reverse) or have the transmission replaced which will cost (according to them) around $9k. Infiniti HQ does not want to help as it is out of powertrain warranty (by less than a year) and their main excuse is I didn't have the last two services done at the dealer (22.5k and 30k services) The only transmission relevant part in those is checking the fluid condition and level, and they are fine according to the dealer. Anyway, my impression is that they are not willing to help because this transmission issue occurs frequently enough that it gets expensive for them if they try to extend the warranty for such cases. Even googling infiniti transmission slips turns up lots of similar stories. Only if I knew it in 2008..

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack your thread. I should probably start a separate thread to provide a more detailed account of what happened and warn people that this could happen to them as well.

[NJGuy]

I am glad everything is fixed on the EX. I am just wondering if the rack (seals etc) was fixed or just replaced? It seems like they just fixed something and asked you to pay 2K and make it appears that you got a free fixed on the throttle body issue... Hard to know the truth unless you asked to take home the old steering rack..

You're a funny guy . Of course I might not ever know what they did; for all I know, maybe they threw in a bottle of stop-leak and called it a day . But I don't consider my dealership a 'stealership', as they haven't done anything for me to expect or accuse them of any wrongdoing. There are a few reasons I think a new rack went in.
-I got charged sales tax on it. Maybe a customer like me can be silenced, but if you cheat the tax man and get caught, you got some explainin' to do .
-Most dealer shops do not rebuild components. The techs usually do full part replacements. I'm not sure if they're even trained for rebuilds nowadays.
-While the rack can have the seals replaced, it requires more labor time. This also requires that the car sit idle for longer in one of the work bays. I would think a dealership service dept. would make more money if they can squeeze in more car appointments during the day.
-The service dept. does offer a pretty much standard 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. I'd take my chances with a brand new rack over an old one with new seals if I were in their shoes. I think it would be pretty bad for them if I came back with another steering related issue within that time.

Now that you've got me paranoid , I'll *casually* check the steering components from under the car next time I work on it; probably when I change out my rear brakes.
Maybe I should have asked for the old part back... Sure, I probably won't be able to get it's core value back. But think of the possibilities:
-I could turn it in for scrap for a couple of bucks (if its even worth that);
-I could bring out my inner artist and fabricate a metal sculpture with it and other junk I've collected; or
-I could keep it inside the house and re-purpose it as a "home security" tool.

Man, I should come to you for more of these suggestions.

[NJGuy]

Anyway, didn't mean to hijack your thread. I should probably start a separate thread to provide a more detailed account of what happened and warn people that this could happen to them as well.

No problem. But please do start another thread. I think that it can only benefit other owners and this forum as well .

[AWGD8]

NJguy,

It is a good idea to check your new steering rack when you get a chance to go underneath the car. I won't be surprised if you"ll see the steering rack stamped with " Powered By Honda ."

[NJGuy]

NJguy,

It is a good idea to check your new steering rack when you get a chance to go underneath the car. I won't be surprised if you"ll see the steering rack stamped with " Powered By Honda ."

It would be a pleasant surprise for me then . I wouldn't worry about it going out on me anymore .

[clementex35]

Hey ! same issue here ... my EX is a 2010 with 117 000 km/70K miles. the part on it self goes for 1K (found it on infinitiparts.ca)
waiting for the labor estimate .. will keep you posted.