Replacing power steering pump

[Caliconfidential]

Hi all - my t5.1 2015 went in for a service and the garage said there might be a little leak from the power steering pump and quoted £1000 to replace. £500 of that is the pump itself, vw part.

I’ve seen a replacement pump on auto doc for £270 and am wondering if anyone has replaced one themselves ? How easy is it ? I can do some jobs on the van and hoping to save some money. I know the aux belt has to come off and access is a pain.

I’ve had a quick look and can see a small drip on the bottom of the pump but I’ve done 3000 miles since the service and the level in the reservoir hasn’t changed.

Any advice welcome - should I just suck it up and pay or is it do-able diy!? We are going for a 3 week european road trip at end of July, so for peace of mind I get it sorted one way or another.

 

[Alan Andrews]

Although no experience replacing a pump on a VW van, I did replace a pump on my Audi A4. It cost me £200 rather than £1000 with Audi.

It is perfectly feasible to do this with DIY skills.

The pumps change a lot between one vehicle and another....fixings are different, and the pipe positions may be different.

So my advice is find the exact pump model number from your existing pump and only search for this item....do not rely on entering your vehicle reg. number on a part company website and it offering up the exact and correct part.

Also do loads of research. Much is available on line, and try to find a genuine VW website that displays a VW manual for your vehicle ...model, variant and year. The Facebook T5 forms are especially useful, as someone has probably already done what you need and may offer advice and videos/photographs.

Understand what tools you will need. I already had a large collection of tools but needed to buy a long reach splined socked in order to remove a pulley.

Keep us updated with your progress and experiences, as I'm sure someone else it find the information useful.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi all - my t5.1 2015 went in for a service and the garage said there might be a little leak from the power steering pump and quoted £1000 to replace. £500 of that is the pump itself, vw part.

I’ve seen a replacement pump on auto doc for £270 and am wondering if anyone has replaced one themselves ? How easy is it ? I can do some jobs on the van and hoping to save some money. I know the aux belt has to come off and access is a pain.

I’ve had a quick look and can see a small drip on the bottom of the pump but I’ve done 3000 miles since the service and the level in the reservoir hasn’t changed.

Any advice welcome - should I just suck it up and pay or is it do-able diy!? We are going for a 3 week european road trip at end of July, so for peace of mind I get it sorted one way or another.

View attachment 124402

Personally I would clean that area well and observe. Is it leaking from that large hexagonal nut/ drain plug? See if you can tighten it up.
If its 1 drip/ 1000 miles I would just observe.

If done by VW you do get 2 yrs warranty for parts and labour.

 

[Caliconfidential]

Thanks both, good advice, will see if I can tighten it a bit and monitor. If the pump did fail, I assume the worst is I would lose power assistance, and it would be drivable if very hard to steer. I will check out those Facebook groups too thanks… I will update in due course

 

[Alan Andrews]

Thanks both, good advice, will see if I can tighten it a bit and monitor. If the pump did fail, I assume the worst is I would lose power assistance, and it would be drivable if very hard to steer. I will check out those Facebook groups too thanks… I will update in due course

With a failing pump you might notice when turning on full lock, the steering shudder and you hear some grumbling from the pump.

 

[TripleBee]

Been there, done that last year.
To get the belt off is not a real problem, if you don't forget to put in a locking pin to keep the tightener.
The only real problem was to get the pump out and in place. I had to remove one bolt from the front subframe, and even then it caught between the body, engine and subframe. After a few twists it came out.
Got a pump for about €300 if I remember correctly.