Club 80-90 Forums

For the last 3yrs nigh on, my Velle has been looked after and cared for by relatives in Bristol. Information regarding servicing/problems etc, has been em, very slow in getting to me.

Recently, I've been passed an MOT Test Certificate dated August 2007, expiry August 2008 (no news on this one yet), but I noticed another sheet is stapled to it. This is called an Advisory Notice. There is only one item listed which is "Offside front steering rack gaiter deteriorated {2. 2. D. 1d}." On the notes on the reverse side to the Advisory Notice it states that the listed items are `only just passible (as at Aug 2007).`

Can any of you learned guys tell me what this means and how much to replace/repair together whether it is likely that the "nearside" one may need attention as well? Also, would you have expected this to have been rectified within the last 12 months?

Please forgive me for not knowing `A from a bull-foot` and thank you all for any help you can afford me.

Eric.

its a rubber bellows on the rack, not an expensive job to replace.

Thanks for that Jason.

So it's a £25 bit of rubber? Ok, is it dangerous to drive and it is likely, unless immediately attended to, cause expensive further damage or even life-threatening? I mean I would not want the steering to fail and to suddenly veer off on the motorway or something.

As you can guess, I'm somewhat worried.

Eric.

if it was that serious it would of failed the mot.just get it sorted sooner than later..

I mean I would not want the steering to fail and to suddenly veer off on the motorway or something.

Alarmingly Rob, did you note the date? It was not a mis-type. It was August 2007!
Up to now nowt has been done about it. In other words, I was being facetious when I said my bus is being cared for.

I wiil get on the case ........ thank you.

Eric.

What it means is that if it splits, it will allow water & dirt into the steering rack, which will cause it to wear more rapidly and eventually fail. That would likely be quite a long time in the future. It certainly isn't immediately life-threatening or dangerous!

I also drive Minis, and either these or CV boots are pretty well an annual job for me. In fact I've done the steering rack bellows on my sister-in-law's Corolla twice in the last three years (the after-market universal ones clearly being of poor quality). 20 minute job with the right tools.

Awww Asahartz,
Many thanks for that info.

Eric.