Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 09:56 pm, by: David Wilson(Davieeeee)
My power steering tends to need a top up every couple of months. But I dont see any leak on my garage floor and cant see anything under the engine? What could this signify? Is the power steering theif taking my oil or is there a more logical explaination.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 10:18 pm, by: Peter Nitschke(Pen)
It might only be leaking under the pressure of driving around corners, so not dripping on your driveway.
Possibly try idling it at home, and turning the wheel back and forth and see if you can then spot a leak. Also, if it's dripping on the under tray you may not spot it.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 11:13 pm, by: Scott Ferguson(Scott_ferguson)
I have this at the moment, It's a leaking hose coming off the power steering pump. Didn't notice it for a while because it was staying on the under engine tray but finally leaked off and now i know.
Brian Timms TryHard New South Wales TT Soarer Goodness.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 08:22 am, by: Brian Timms(Turbo_brian)
Scott,
If it's a pin-hole in the power steering pipe, you remove the pipe that is leaking.
With mine, it was the pipe that ran from the pump to the lower power steering rack, was a bloody bitch of a job to remove, and the Pirtek guys got their little black book out, with odds on that my car was leaving on a tow-truck within 2 hours of arrival.
Surfice to say, I forgot to mention to them I was an apprentice mechanic a while ago, and I know a little bit about swinging tools around on an engine.
Took me an hour to remove the pipe, 40 minutes for them to weld new fittings and pipe to the system (they even did new couplings on the rack to make it easier to re-install), and then 35 minutes to fit, prime, and then top up the system.
It was the best way I found to fully flush the power steering fluid, worked a treat!!
Also, as Darryn said, there is a possibility that it's the pressure switch leaking the fluid into the throttle body, then pushing it into the cylinders, and burning it off, so it will go completely undetected as to leaking point. With this issue, it's a matter of replacing the pressure switch and your set.
Best way to work out if you have a leaking pipe, is get the car on a level surface, get a friend to sit in the driver's seat, start the car, and turn from left to right, then right to left. Get your friend to keep doing this while you inspect the pipes for leak points, run your hands up and down pipes, taking care not to go near the fans or other moving parts of the engine, and being extra careful not to burn yourself on hot bits either.
You will see there is so much pressure in the lines that they flex as you move the steering wheel, this is normal, and also means the pipes are holding pressure (a good thing).
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 - 11:23 pm, by: Scott Ferguson(Scott_ferguson)
These are a couple pics of the offending hose. Is that large fitting on the line in question tightenable? or should everything be removed and repaired? ( top of the picture is the intake manifold)
Brian Timms TryHard New South Wales TT Soarer Goodness.
Thursday, June 14, 2007 - 01:00 pm, by: Brian Timms(Turbo_brian)
if it's the hose I am thinking of, it's the same as mine, goes from the pump to the connector you have pointed out with the happy yellow arrow, then from that pip, it curves back in a u-shape and goes down to the rack at the bottom and this goes across the bottom of the engine to the other side and connects up to some other thing (sorry for lack of detail, typing this from memory because it's wet and raininy and I cant be stuffed crawling around the car for details.
This took me an hour to remove, 40 minutes for Pirtek to replace the pipe connectors, and a further 40-ish minutes to re-install and prime the system.
You cant tighten it, and it does have to be removed from the car to be repaired, as they weld on new points, but I have not had a problem with mine ever since.
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