Well, not entirely new but been gone for a while. Sold my '05 STI a little over a year ago and regretted it ever since. So... now I'm back in the game and just purchased an '07 STI bone stock. Let the modding begin! My '05 that some of you may know me by... My new (to me) '07...
I got it out of Lincoln, NE at a dealership. Its very clean, but I already have a power steering air leak issue I have to try to pinpoint! Hopefully not a sign of my luck to come.
Yeah I plan to go wingless... I'll do the bodywork to shave the keyhole and everything again, and have a friend that is a painter so now I'm just in need of a trunk lid.
Scott, what are the issues you are having? If you are getting air in the PS system check for leaks on the pump, and on the lines that connect to the PS reservoir. The "spring" clamps slowly loose their tension and don't really cause a major leak but enough to allow air to suck in, I've seen many people that remove them and replace with regular worm gear clamps. In-fact, I plan to do this over the weekend on mine. It could also just need a fluid change.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure its just an air leak. Some air bubbles come up in the reservior, and the steering wheel shutters or shakes sometimes when turning. I have some worm clamps I plan to give a try tonight, and I'm thinking I may take apart the pump to see if there are any o-rings or seals that look shot. Along with that will come new fluid.
There are replaceable o-rings. However, there is no "kit" and you will likely have to order them all based off of size. There is a how to on nasioc or iwsti. Some have had success, some have not with the seals. I'm not sure if I would yank the pump out quiet yet. Sounds like our cars have the exact same issue.
This thread was awesome, and should help... http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1897783&highlight=power+steering+shakes
As if the power steering issue wasn't enough I now have an even bigger issue! The car recently started to overheat, and I found that the coolant was low. No visible leaks anywhere so I filled up the coolant, and kept an eye on it. I believe the car was picking up knock as it then started to cut boost and I was only able to pull ~8psi max. I took a compression and leakdown tester from work and found compression to be about 10psi lower in cylinder #4 than the other cylinders, and the leakdown showed about 60% more leak in cylinder #4 than the other cylinders... This '07 and I already aren't getting along