User 52121

Hey folks,

Car suffered some sort of catastrophic power steering failure today out on an AX course. Came in after screwing around a bit (long story, was coaching for a school today and in-between sessions got to go screw around on the course) and someone alerted me to the fact that I was dripping something. Climbed under it, and within about 15 seconds the entire contents of the reservoir emptied leaving a nice lake 'o PS fluid on the ground.

While at the AX lot, I couldn't see anything really obvious. The lines coming out of the reservoir seemed snug and secure and no real signs of leakage there. But the entire undertray was full of fluid and everything from about the oil pump housing down was soaked. To finish the day and get home I just cut the (new...dammit) belt.

Got home a few minutes ago, put it up on jackstands and had a look... and still can't see much. It's a mess under there though. It looks like it originated either at the boot on the steering rack (passenger side) or the line that connects to the bottom of the pump (banjo fitting) and runs over to the driver's side on the rack. The line has this foam wrapping on it and it's sufficiently soaked and squishy with fluid. Wondering if perhaps that line ruptured - I did have the motor out over the winter and am wondering if perhaps while installing or removing I somehow compromised the line.

PS pump is a reman unit from Zims, installed this winter with the motor, along with a new reservoir and soft lines (which connect to the reservoir.) Each of those have maybe 800 miles on them. New rack was installed by the previous owner just before I bought the car, might have 20k on it. The rubber boot on the passenger side tie rod end was cut, so I replaced it with a new rod end (purchased from Paragon) yesterday afternoon.

Anyone seen a PS rack pop and dump all the fluid out of one of the boots? Could I somehow have damaged it when I swapped out the tie rod end? How common is it for the hard pressurized PS line between pump and rack to fail?

I have a DE coming up on Friday - my wife's first. I was originally thinking I'd just leave the belt off and run without PS but my wife is pretty small. I think she'll have a hard time running a PS rack without the PS part so I want to get this squared up.

I've had a VERY long weekend, am EXHAUSTED and falling asleep and it's only 7:30p, so I'm not going to mess with it more. Wondering if some of ya can toss out some ideas for me to check when I get home from work tomorrow.

Thanks!

Zeff

Ive not seen one let go that suddenly but I've had two sets of hoses go through a reservoir of fluid in 3 days before. That's why I went manual.

Voith

Go manual, its not bad at all and you loose all the ps problems.

pettybird

clean everything up, put more fluid in it, and start the car. you should have your answer very, very quickly.

I had an old Dodge Shadow blow its rack seal on one side--I could pour fluid in the reservoir, start the car for 5 specs, and watch it alllllll come out the boot.

The good news is that you have all week to replace a defective part. Plenty of time to order something...

Ben951S

Get a friend to do the starting thing so you can do the watching thing.

Tedro951

+1 on starting and watching. Actually, just fill the res and watch first, in case gravity alone can cause it. It'll probably need started, though.
On the pressure side, the line from the pump to the lower rack port (the foam line) is easy to see and can be "made up" at a hose shop. I didn't have any success getting local shops to make up the other hose, and ordered the genuine.

If the leak is from the backside of the rack (where the banjo bolts are), here's what I would do:
Remove the bolt at steering knuckle.
Remove 10MM bolts (adel clamps on top of Xmember) holding the return line to Xmember
Remove ground wire (if present).
Remove 4 rack bolts.
Drop rack enough to access the banjo bolts, knuckle may need some assistance letting go. High Pressure bolt will be fairly easy to get at. Top bolt is a little more difficult, but probably isn't the one leaking. Travis has nice seal/washer for these, but mine sealed using normal crush washers.

In other words, if complete rack removal isn't needed, don't bother with removing sway bar and tie rod ends.

xupkid2

I think your problem lies in the fact that you have all those hoses with fluid in them. If you got rid of those you'd solve the problem Think of it as a cheap gym membership for your forearms.

The Lemons car is much easier than my manual rack so I would think Sharon would be fine with a looped system for auto-x and DE.

reno808

go to manual solves all of those problems

chrly924s

My 87 blew the hose that goes in behind the rack. It makes an almost 180 there. That will file the tray up in a hurry. Just got thru fixing an 86 that blew the rack & filled both boots. I put a new pump on it & he took it to Birmingham for the Barber
DE. Guess the old rack couldn't handle the new pump.

schip43

Well I think I can offer something that my actually help? The refilling thing is what your gonna have to do the only problem with that is your just hoping that you can spot the leak? But now you've got crap that's leaked everywhere! You need to clean it as best you can.

I think you need to put the wheels up "securely" on jack stands and disconnect the fan as it will contribute to the mess.
I have never used it my self but in the local Kragen's they sell those UV dye kits, with the yellow glasses, you pour the dye in the system and I guess with the yellow glasses and a UV light your suppose to be able to see where the leak is coming from!

That's what I would do to try and trace the leak down, I don't know how well it works but short of that I think you'd just be peeing in the wind hoping to find the leak by refilling the system.

Tedro951

If it lost the reservoir contents in 15 seconds, UV anything isn't needed. Don't worry. It'll be obvious. I had a bad washer, and it was literally pissing a super thin, barely visable stream of PS fluid about 3 feet from the washer. What's crazy is that it wasn't hitting anything between the washer and the ground just aft of the RF tire.

I'd save the 3 cans of degreaser for AFTER you fix the leak. Just my opinion, helpful or not.

schip43

So a choice between subtle and obvious! Well if I'm right you refill it once, if he's right you refill it twice!

User 52121

Thanks for all the tips guys - I love this place.

Found the leak. Didn't show up until I refilled the reservoir and started the car. Pretty solid stream of fluid pissing down out of the hard line that goes between the rack and the PS cooler loop. I know exactly what happened. The Lindsey Oil Cooler lines I have (the SS braided stuff) must've been rubbing against the line and wore a hole in it. (Oddly - and thankfully - enough, the SS braid on the oil line is 100% fine. Glad it wasn't the other way around.)

I'm fairly certain this line that failed is low pressure - but can someone confirm? If it is, then I'm just going to use a tubing cutter, cut the hard line back a bit, and then route some reinforced rubber line up to the cooler loop (out of the way of everything.)

Sometimes it's really embarrassing to make mistakes like this when I normally know better Glad it wasn't worse.

Jim

Tedro951

Its lower pressure than the other one. I think it comes in two (or more) pieces, and uses a hose clamp between the hard/soft lines. IIRC, the hard line even has a barb on it... The DIY repair is worth a shot. I ended up buying new, and it hurt.

Good find. I wish I'd have video'd the stream mine was making....looked like a small laser beam.

schip43

Simple wins..this time!