D1 Power steering box

[clankilpatrick]

Good evening all,
I am interested in purchasing a 1998 Disco 1 tdi that is for sale up here in FNQ. The power steering box is leaking and I was wondering is it better to completley replace the box or just replace the seals? It has 168000km on it and the bloke wants $9000 without a RWC or $11,900 with one. I am about to put a list of parts into Karcraft to get an idea of cost to bring it up to Roadworthy standard myself.
Many thanks in advance for any of your input
cheers
Dave

[justinc]

Good evening all,
I am interested in purchasing a 1998 Disco 1 tdi that is for sale up here in FNQ. The power steering box is leaking and I was wondering is it better to completley replace the box or just replace the seals? It has 168000km on it and the bloke wants $9000 without a RWC or $11,900 with one. I am about to put a list of parts into Karcraft to get an idea of cost to bring it up to Roadworthy standard myself.
Many thanks in advance for any of your input
cheers
Dave

Dave,

Replacing the box at 168k isn't unheard of, or a bad idea. Check British 4x4 (A vendor/ supplier here on AULRO) as I heard he had a couple of secretly priced brand new ones lately....:cool: Alans Number is (03) 6234 9444.bh.

Fitting new seals will possibly fix it, but paying someone to do it and having the risk it could leak AGAIN at a later stage, then new is always a good idea if cheap enough.

JC

[JDNSW]

Some people have been successful with just replacing seals, but others, including myself, would regard this as a short term fix. If the seals have failed, it is likely that other parts need replacing as well, and before long a replacement box looks cheap!

John

[Lucy]

I have a 1997 Tdi with 197,000km, put a new steering box in from Karcraft last week, $770 + freight, wasn't that much dearer than a second hand, and cheaper than the reconditioned/exchange price i was quoted from a well known supplier. The hardest part of the whole exercise was getting the steering arm off the old box to put onto the new one.

Note: I paid $6500 for my Disco 9 months ago, it is in excellent condition, came with 12 months rego, bought from a car yard in Sydney. Maybe you should keep shoppping around, the prices you quoted seem a little high? There are enough people on this forum that if you find something interstate, you could get someone to look at it for you, and airfares aren't that dear that you perhaps could afford to travel and save some money too.

[clankilpatrick]

Gidday Lucy,
Many thanks for your ideas. I too thought that the prices are a little high and I am going to haggle believe me if we decide to go ahead. It also has a custom alloy roof rack, a safety barrier between the rear seats and the "boot", snorkle and side steps. There's not that much to choose from up her in FNQ unfortunately and I particularly wanted an S model, manual gear box, 1998 "W" VIN numbered vehicle as it was the last of the series. I have been looking on the AULRO site for ages but nothing has come up. Will keep looking for a bit though.
cheers
Dave