Mitsubishi Repair: 2000 Eclipse GT steering, worst case scenario, power steering fluid

Question
Hi,

I'm planning to buy a pre-owned 2000 Eclipse GT manual with 50k miles on it. The Mitsubishi inspection revealed that it has a steering rack leak and they recommend replacing it ($1300). The owner says that he can't see any leak on the ground nor that the service station had suggested this problem during the 46k miles service.
Can you please advise me about the criticality of this problem, whether it is a common problem in Eclipse/all cars, etc.?

Thanks
Abhi

Answer
Abhi,
A small leak in the steering rack many times will not be a huge problem.  I've had a small leak in my steering rack for about 6 years without problem, but that's just my situation.  You really need to test drive the car and feel how hard it is to turn the steering wheel.  The worst case scenario is that if the leak got increasing worse, then you could loose all power steering fluid and your steering wheel would be extremely difficult to turn.  This kind of problem usually happens if the car was in some sort of accident or took a severe hit to a wheel while the tires are turned out sharply.  This can happen if the car was sliding on ice/snow or wet road, and slammed into a curb or something similar.

Regardless of what the owner told you, if a qualified technician saw that the steering rack is leaking and needs to be replaced for $1300, you should use that to negotiate a lower price on the car if you really want the car bad enough.  You can ask for another $1300 off the asking price, or at least half of that off ($650).
Good luck!