Hearing engine noise emanating from behind the dash..turns out to be a rubber boot (like a CV joint) that rides tightly against the steering shaft..with a mounting flange that attaches to the fire wall.

Got one from Vlad at 4x4club..first inexpensive item in a long time...but I'm sure I'll be paying the price somehow swapping it out! Here I go...more soon!

 Cheers

fernweh

 I see you did not have to deal with the sealant around the mounting flange.

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Steps I took 

1. Flatten the drivers tire. No seriously it make getting into this area a little easier  I was also doing some work around the lockers so it helped for this too.
2. Remove the inside coverings, from the feet area.
a. FYI that speaker that you find is the tell aid from what I can tell in the EPC
b. The OBD port has a sliding release on it, so you can remove the plug and carpet like covering can move out of the way.
c. Be mindful of the heating vent when you reinstall.
3. Now you will see the hole to the steering shaft.
4. Now turn the steering wheel so the bolt at the half way point is pointing towards the Coil packs and the fender
a. This will make is easy to remove and line up the other end for you
5. Remove the 13mm bolt
6. I had to lightly tap on the shaft towards the driver seat once it started to move it went very easily
7. Once your off this connection Push back the remaining boot towards the firewall and watch as you pull the shaft out for the alignment marks as other have shown above. Yes the shaft can go in multiple spots and isn’t index to only go in one way.. it should be but it’s not from what I can tell.
8. WOW that was easy so far.
9. I would remove the locker fluid reservoir 2 10mm nuts and you can move this out of your way to access the 3 nuts below.
10. Remove the 3 10mm bolt holding the ring on, yes you could just loosen them but it was easier to remove
11. I didn’t’ have the nasty sealant as shown above not sure if that was 1 off or if they stopped doing that after a period of time.
12. Now shove that new boot in  
a. You will notice it has 3 mounting holes – tabs… I initially thought those went on the engine side NOPE that entire part gets shoved inside under the dash.    look at fernweh and NHDave photos you can see the rubber next to the black metal keeper. If you look from the inside the car you have the shaft  then rubber lip and then the metal band. 

13. Now go inside and you will see the flange on the boot gets trapped between the round black part with 3 bolts and the boot.

a. My boot had enough friction to hold it in place to replace the 3 10mm nuts
14. Now what I feel is most likely the hardest part… Push back the boot to expose the shaft on the inside and align it up with the marks on the shaft, Because my steering wheel was locked “key out” and my drivers tire was FLAT I had to unlock my steering wheel so I could put it on the correct spline, FYI if it looks close it’s wrong you can get 1 more spline to nail it perfect.
a. Initially I tried it but couldn’t get the other end to start on the shaft so I move it 1 spline but then it dint’ match up, so I unlocked the wheel which allowed me to match up the marks and insert the other end without having to hammer on it. I suspect letting air out of the tire may have bound up the wheel just a smidge.
b. Again I didn’t need any hammering.  If you do it's binding up somewhere check stuff. 
15. Now reinstall the 13mm bolt I did use some blue lock tight as this isn’t something I want coming apart on its own. Sorry don’t’ have the TQ spec.
16. Lastly position the boot on the shaft there is a lip that it site on right at the part # of the shaft. You can also verify your marks are lined up still.
17. Reinstall the inside stuff and enjoy

Thoughts:

I was dreading this repair, that black tar stuff, that safety loop gizmo, everything about this didn’t look fun. I actually ordered the part almost 2 years ago now that is how long I have putting this off. But to be honest it was pretty easy to do and I can’t believe I have waited this long to do it. 5 nuts and 1 bolt, and I think 7 screws on the inside

I don’t’ have any proof but I suspect that brake fluid is sometimes accidently left to drop down from above and is partly the cause of the destruction of this boot. Moving forward I will be protecting this as best I can to catch any stray fluid. It’s also fairly thin material.

I also want to thank others before me who have posted info as this helped me.

-David

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