2" Level Cause Leak In Steering Box?

ajcain79 · October 13, 2009

I had my truck in at the dealership getting some work done. The tech noticed a small leak (more like a wetness) around my steering gear box. He ended up replacing the steering box and the whole rack and pinion steering components. I think he replaced tie rod ends also. All of the work was done under the warranty. They did not mention anything to me about my RC 2" level kit. I didn't think it would be wise to bring it up either. So, could the level kit have caused the problems? Was I lucky to have them replace the components under warranty? If the leak was caused by the leveling kit I might remove it to prevent damaging the steering components again.

VRSCA1 · October 13, 2009

I had my truck in at the dealership getting some work done. The tech noticed a small leak (more like a wetness) around my steering gear box. He ended up replacing the steering box and the whole rack and pinion steering components. I think he replaced tie rod ends also. All of the work was done under the warranty. They did not mention anything to me about my RC 2" level kit. I didn't think it would be wise to bring it up either. So, could the level kit have caused the problems? Was I lucky to have them replace the components under warranty? If the leak was caused by the leveling kit I might remove it to prevent damaging the steering components again.

The Steering gear or Rack/pinion more than likely DID NOT need to be replaced for "wetness" GM has actually put out information asking techs not replace the gear for this reason especially if seen coming from the adjuster plug area.Probably why nothing was said about the lift kit,and it would not cause this issue anyway,tech probably upsold warranty which is also frowned upon by GM,but dealers can up customer satisfaction numbers and make more money to boot and so can the tech,it may have been a slow week at the dealer is my guess.If the gear was actually faulty you would have spotted the leak long before they did,also the power sterring pump would be low,or the fluid that was lost would have been inside one of the steering gear bellows.

Take this from a former dealership insider,hopefully the replacment steering gear/rack is as good as the one that was pulled off,sometimes the replacments are worst due to supplier changes etc.