Eric

My 86 951 has a fine film on the ext. of the PS reservoir. It seems to be most pronounced at the "equator" where the upper and lower halves are joined. Has anyone else encounterd this? Can the reservoir be repaired? I was anticipating draining it with a turkey baster, removing it and doing some further investigation. Upon re-assembly I was also going to replace the two hoses which are located underneath(one is leaking). Does anyone have suggestions on replacements? I imagine auto-part variety is good enough as long as it is the same diameter. Lastly, over at the 944 garage, I read you SHOULD turn your wheel lock to lock to bleed the PS system, but in the post further down, it says don't go all the way to the locks--which way is the right way?
Any and all suggestions for this procedure are welcome(pitfalls to avoid, etc..)

Eric(adding this to the weekends' projects: 4 new speakers, steering wheel re-covering--next weekend--A-arms and AC!!)

TomH

I've read that the resevoir has no user-serviceable parts. In other words you are supposed to replace it altogether rather than try and salvage it and the built in filter. Its not that expensive ~ $40???

Let me know how it goes. I, too am planning such an adventure, as both of my hoses are a little chewed up at the resevoir.

Unfortunately, that's were the expense is. From what I could tell, one of the two hoses was more than $100

Do you have the part numbers for those two hoses? Maybe I was wrong.

IceShark

If the reservoir is cracked I don't think you can repair it as glue just won't stick to the plastic. There was a lister that was going to experiment with welding the plasitc but don't know how that is going.

It could be that you are just leaking from the cap and a new o-ring is all you need.

The hoses on the reservoir are special. The rubber compound is formulated to take PS fluid so make sure your replacement hoses are rated for that. The tougher item is the hose that goes to the pump has different sized ends. There is no way a regular hose will fit. I suppose you could get 2 hoses and have a reducer nipple to deal with the size problem ... I just gave up and bought a factory hose.

Eric

Thanks for the replies. This doesn't sound too encouraging, but I will proceed anyways. Iceshark, do you remember the part #/price of the PS hoses?

What about the bleeding process? Lock to lock, or no?

Eric(picking up my tools from home today)

IceShark

Eric, I just had to replace the one hose that went to the P/S pump. I don't have the part number but it was about $40 for the hose and P/S pump fitting from the dealer.

Be aware that there have been at least a couple updates to that hose and fitting to the P/S pump so make sure the dealer gets you the most recent version. The original hose was pretty long and snaked around the front of the car. The most recent update is shorter and makes a straight shot from the reservoir to the pump.

The other thing is hose clamps. Don't use the type that has the screw engagement slots cut all the way through the steel band. The hose rubber deforms into and hangs up on the slots. The result is the clamp doesn't put even pressure on the hose and it ends up leaking no matter how tight you try and clamp it. And it cuts up the rubber.

NAPA sells a "banded" hose clamp which is like a slotted one except it has a long non-slotted tail that wraps around the inside giving a smooth surface. There are also the types of clamps where the screw engagement threads are pressed into the band but not punched all the way through, and the edges of the band are rolled up slightly helping to prevent the band from cutting the rubber. This type of clamp is pretty hard to find though, so I went with the NAPA one which seems to be doing a good job.

As far as bleeding goes I just turn the wheels back and forth a couple times but don't slam them into the hard lock position. I've never had any problem getting the air out that way.