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hi guys and hope all is well... after a nearly 3k miles EUR round trip i'm finally back in the UK (and somewhat trouble free).

I will post couple photos and talk about experience/s in a diff. thread but would like to raise one point and that is related to steering... I noticed on the way back that my steering became very stiff when turning both sides beyond 180 degrees. It was okay while on motorways but now back to city driving it's tad challenging.

Oil levels are fine, no errors or issues and I have not noticed any oil leaks... when cold it's all fine, once it warms up it does get stiffer to the point that it "feels" like p/steering is not working.

I will book it to a garage for a check up but in the meantime has anyone experienced this before? or could you share any tips or hints>

ps. something to note is that coolant pipes were replaced recently if it has anything to do with it.

Any hints...?

Thoughts or suggestions?

The long coolant pipe runs very close to the rack - if it was the old 1-ended design Audi rack then I'd think that was the problem, but it's common style two ended rack so I doubt it.
The parts manager at the local dealers mentioned changing 2 racks in a C6 before they discovered that it needed a software correction but he never said what fault they were trying to deal with.

thanks Jim... i was suspecting that coolant pipes replacement could have something to do with it as "stiffness" started around the time I replaced them.

in your comment where you mentioned that it runs "very close to the rack", what have you meant by it - e.g. that coolant pipe might me pressing the oil supplies for rack hence creating this stiff effect or... ? I'd like to check if there is anyhtign i could or should check for before taking it to the garage to inspect.

It does run close to the rack, but close to the fixed part, not the bits that move. The lines to the rack are a hard line and one that's a combination - a flexy hose with hard lines at both ends. There's no way that I can think of for the coolant pipe to cause them any problems. Even if the new coolant pipes have been fitted incorrectly I can't see how that would only affect the steering when hot - it'd be all the time I'd have thought.
As it seems to be temperature related I'd think it's either
1 the rack
2 the ps pump - which is an unusual design with a sort of sliding clutch on the input shaft, maybe it's sticking, don't know if that's how it works....
3 the ps fluid cooler

Jim Haseltine wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:53 pm

It does run close to the rack, but close to the fixed part, not the bits that move. The lines to the rack are a hard line and one that's a combination - a flexy hose with hard lines at both ends. There's no way that I can think of for the coolant pipe to cause them any problems. Even if the new coolant pipes have been fitted incorrectly I can't see how that would only affect the steering when hot - it'd be all the time I'd have thought.
As it seems to be temperature related I'd think it's either
1 the rack
2 the ps pump - which is an unusual design with a sort of sliding clutch on the input shaft, maybe it's sticking, don't know if that's how it works....
3 the ps fluid cooler

thanks Jim... as part of my annual service I did ask the garage to flush and replace p/s fluid but that didn't yield much results.

What I notice is that when the car warms up, steering is tad stiff. However, once revs are increased it does work much better... really weird. I wonder what increase in revs has to do with steering?

That suggests to me that it might be something to do with the ps pump. Though I don't think they call them a ps pump anymore because they've driven more than just the steering on Audis for years.

OP - did you get to the bottom of this?

Do you happen to experience same issue?

Garage did second (more thorough check y'day). They observed that there is a mist of oil on one of the rubber-based based lines/cables which may need replacing... I doubt that this would actually fix the problem but will give it a go before I tackle p/s pump.

More to follow towards the end of next week.

If you have the servotronic steering feature on your Audi, code 1N3 on your option package Sticker in your boot, then it 'might' be that (I say might as your fault seems to be opposite what I would expect from that failing, Id expect your steering to be always easy, or always hard if that valve failed or had a problem)

This is controlled by a solenoid valve on your rack, which sadly is rack out to maintain acording to the book. I've never worked on one though.

c3nturi0n wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 21, 2018 3:03 pm

Do you happen to experience same issue?

Garage did second (more thorough check y'day). They observed that there is a mist of oil on one of the rubber-based based lines/cables which may need replacing... I doubt that this would actually fix the problem but will give it a go before I tackle p/s pump.

More to follow towards the end of next week.

No i don't, my steering is nice and light at speeds under 10mph, but as soon as you do 15mph+ it gets quite stiff. I assume this is normal though, but RS4's I've driven seem a lot lighter and don't stiffen up until you're doing much higher speeds. My old S4 was similar, nice and light at parking and manouvering speeds, but stiffened up at higher speeds, but my RS6 seems to stifen up a little too early. Maybe I'm just not used to it comeing from the silly light M3's steering.

Mine has tightened up by around 20mph.

Jim Haseltine wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:21 pm

Mine has tightened up by around 20mph.

Yes I made a point of noting it on my way home this eveing and mines about 20mph.

Replacement ps pump is something i’m considereing... has anyone ever done on RS?

Ps. Hope it’s not an engine out job.