Thread: Power Steering fluid leak--Where?

How can I tell where the PS fluid leak is coming from? Should I take it to the car wash and spray down the area, crawl underneath it and look?

Any ideas gang?

I'm hoping it is a hose and not the pump

1994 Grand Prix SE 3.4
Over 200,000 miles on it.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Iron Indian

The best way to find a power steering leak is you must pressurize the system. Meaning, with the wheel straight theres no real PSI in the system. As soon as you turn the wheel in either direction making the PS work, thats when pressure builds up and you can find your leaks.

What I did to find a pin hole leak in my dads car... cleaned off the area really well. Put the car on jackstands secure. You crawl under the car with a flashlight and safety glasses on. Have your assistant (my dad in my case) start the car and turn the wheel slowly in either direction making the pump build pressure. In this cars case, everytime he turned the wheel the fluid shot out of the tiny tiny hole in the hard line.

Hope this helps, worked real well for me...

Hey, thanks a lot. I will try it.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Well that is where I would personally start. Make sure everything is nice and clean. Soak it all down with some Simple Green and then power wash the crap out of the rack and pinion and power steering pump and then let it dry and observe over the next couple of days.

Id even through a big piece of cardboard under the car when its parked overnight to see where the leak is generally coming from.

Thanks for all the help. Got to it today. It was the high pressure line that was leaking. Mechanic bro-in-law said the pumps are usually pretty good on these cars so he thought it would be the power steering line. Bought a new one for $22 and my son, bro-in-law and I installed it. Wasn't real easy but got it done. It was hard to connect the line to the rack and pinon fittingdown and back behind the engne. Couldn't get our fingers in there well enough to get a good grip...we all switched off on it laying on the engine and underneath the car but finally, after a good 1 1/2 or so we got the threads to bite and in it went. Not leaking now. Whooo Hooo!!

I think I was looking at $200-250 in a shop and I got by for around $25 all in all.