Hi guys. Backyard mechanic who works on his own cars (Currently a VW beetle tdi and an 88 fiero). A friend of mine was complaining about a mushy brake pedal on his 2004 Grand prix (3800 NA auto). He had been topping up the brake fluid every few weeks.
Upon first inspection when he started the car and pumped the brakes I noticed a good stream of fluid coming down behind the brake booster. As it was getting late in the day we quickly ran to the junk yard nearby and grabbed a master cylinder. I assumed the seals had gone bad and was leaking fluid into the booster. I also noticed the booster itself was making a leaking noise, but we weren't able to grab one at the time.
Anyways, we swapped it out, and same problem. I decided at that point to jack up the drivers side, remove the wheel, and take a closer look. On top of the same leak and booster noise, there was a SIGNIFICANT spray of coming from the bottom union on the power steering rack (not the lines to the pump, but rather the hydraulic transfer tubes that face the drivers side wheel well.. not sure if that's the right term. the hard lines that run from one side of the rack to the other). The puzzling part to me is that it only sprayed (and HEAVILY) when the brakes were pushed. I thought PERHAPS the fluid was spraying up into the booster and maybe giving me a false diagnosis, but the brake fluid is 100% empting , and fast! I also covered the PS leak with a rag to try to isolate the leaks as it was getting everywhere. I still had the booster leak.
I took a look at the power steering fluid (once I found the bastard) and while it was "low" it was not as low as I would have expected given the number of times we tested this.
So, is this just two separate issues happening at the same? Why when the brake booster is applied does the PS rack leak (and by leak I mean spray out under pressure).
Follow up questions :
1) I plan on grabbing a booster from a different yard, that swap out seems simple enough. Once the MC is removed and the brake pedal removed the booster just twists off the firewall?
2) Ive done a ps rack on my beetle... similar type job. Remove tierods, support sub frame with jack, drop frame a little, curse and bruse your knuckles for awhile. Question is. I notice rockauto seems to sell those hard tubes. Is it possible to replace those with the rack still in the car? Should I just bite the bullet at grab a full rack replacement from the bone yard?
Sorry if this is the ultra noob question...