H

Hybrid309

Member
Hi all
I am going to attempt to replace the steering relay on my s3 this weekend and have a few questions about replacing it...
What's involved in replacing the relay? I currently have a galv chassis so hopefully be siezed :)
Is there anything to look out for when replacing it?
Also how to top up the oil in the relay? Qty of oil and grade of oil?
If any of you fine individuals could help that would be great :)
Thanks
 
remove two bolts from top to fill with oil or remove all four and take oil seal plate off if you have it out.
 
Mine had been assembled with the top bolts (wrong way round?) so the front panel stopped me taking them out. I cut through them then found out how much they cost to replace! If you're replacing the unit you can have at it with a big hammer or you can use a trolly jack from underneath. The correct alignment to fit the arms is in the manual.
 
Replacing my steering relay was a lot easier than I was expecting having read what some people have tried on here to get this out. I removed the inner part. Next as the vehicle is complete I used a trolley jack and a length of solid bar slightly smaller diameter than the relay to apply pressure until the front wheels were just off the ground. From the top I then tapped the relay housing left and right using the copper side of a copper hyde mallet. This tapping caused the relay to move a little each time in an upwards direction until the top flange (the only tight fitting part) was clear of the chassis, after that it just pushed on out. There is about an 1/8th" (2.5mm) gap all around between the housing and the chassis, the only contact part is at the very top for about 1/4" (6mm).


The new replacement relay I bought would not fit in the hole due to the size of head on the screws that hold the bottom end plate in place. It looks like the original Landrover part used non standard screws in that the head size is much smaller than is normal for a bolt with that size shaft. The replacement part uses standard off the shelf screws and these foul the hole. Easy answer is to swap the bottom 4 screws over then every thing fits perfectly.
 
There is a thread somewhere about blue box relay snapping.......I would not use one.
 
I've done a lot of research into this, and from what I can this is just urban myth and hearsay!!!

There a couple images of bent or broken shafts from extreme off roading, and everything else seems to be from bad installation on the vehicle and not tightening up the relay arm clamps correctly.
 
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Certainly no myth or hearsay for the guy driving. The thread may have been over on OLLR
He had a lucky escape, others who contributed to the thread had seen/had problems.
Yes it was on OLLR 27 July 2013 by miss b.
Three people posted about having sheared relays.
 
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That's one of the pages I read through when looking this up. That sheared shaft has me confused, other then external damage to cause that I cant see how the wider portion of the shaft has broken.

I'm in no way defending Britpart if this is a genuine failure, but from a lot of these stories that I read it seems the person installing the relay has caused 99% of the problem.

I also believe that Allmakes, Britpart, and Bearmach are all selling the same product under their own brands. I hear no issues with the others?
 
" I can't see how the wider portion of the shaft has broken" I am an engineer with over 50 years toolmaking experience. Incorrect choice of materiel and or heat treatment can course such issues. Iv'e run Land Rovers for over 35 years and had to many blue box problems to ignore them. Not all parts are suspect but why take a chance on such a critical part ? Your choice however.
 
There was a post recently of a gearbox reverse idler shaft sheared into pieces much thicker than relay shaft and expected to be under less stress so that also can only be poor quality material used for its manufacture.
Orginal relay shafts are probably case hardened but need to be of the correct grade steel in the 1st place.
 
Blackburn said:
There was a post recently of a gearbox reverse idler shaft sheared into pieces much thicker than relay shaft and expected to be under less stress so that also can only be poor quality material used for its manufacture.
Orginal relay shafts are probably case hardened but need to be of the correct grade steel in the 1st place.
Click to expand...

Is that the one on ollr? If it is I think that was the original shaft that went bang not a replacement
 
divie said:
" I can't see how the wider portion of the shaft has broken" I am an engineer with over 50 years toolmaking experience. Incorrect choice of materiel and or heat treatment can course such issues. Iv'e run Land Rovers for over 35 years and had to many blue box problems to ignore them. Not all parts are suspect but why take a chance on such a critical part ? Your choice however.
Click to expand...

I can't argue with 50 years toolmaking experience, I have a small machine shop but nothing like your experience. I can however model this steering relay and run a finite element analysis on this part and post the results on here.
 
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