Power Steering Fluid Leak

[dave110]

At least you got a good nights rest, although seeing that at 5:10AM is not such a good thing either. I should probably delete that photo. Wish I could delete her.

[cs15dah]

On 1/13/2020 at 7:00 AM, Mopar1973Man said:

Just remove the hoses from the back. 2 bolts and the pressure fitting and the reservoir will slide right off. Watch there is 2 square cut seals for the bolt holes. 

 

Finally getting around to tackling this job today...

 

Bought the $13.99 seal kit from Autozone shown above.  Used the large o-ring, 2 small square-cut rings for the bolt holes, square-cut ring for the pressure fitting hole, and o-ring on the actual pressure fitting. Still have 6 o-rings left...  Probably useless to anyone without the ones I’ve already used. But if anyone is rebuilding their pump and want these, shoot me a PM with your address and I’ll ship these out to you. 
 

While there, also got the two lines that run between pump/hydroboost and gear/hydroboost.  Also got 5 feet of 3/8 ID line for the return hoses.  And a gallon of power steering fluid, to adequately flush the old fluid out.  I'm thinking a gallon is way too much, but a gallon ($22) was nearly the same price as 3 separate quarts ($21).

 

I'm almost done.  I had to come to a stopping point so I can go do other tasks, so the reservoir is on and the old hoses loosely connected.  I'll finish this up on another day.

 

QUESTION FOR THE GROUP:  The old return lines have a crimp on hose clamp.  Between the hydroboost and the pump, there's a crimp connector on the hydroboost end of the hose.  And between the gear and the pump, there's a crimp connector on the gear end of the hose.  When using my new return lines, can I just use regular hose clamps?

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by cs15dah

[Dieselfuture]

2 hours ago, cs15dah said:

can I just use regular hose clamps?

I did, just don't over do it. It's a return, not a huge amount of pressure. Also buy an in line filter and put it in the return line. 

[cs15dah]

13 minutes ago, Dieselfuture said:

Also buy an in line filter and put it in the return line. 

 

Suggestions?  Something I can pick up from Autozone or Advance, or Amazon Prime?

[Dieselfuture]

https://www.google.com/search?q=ps351002&oq=ps351002&aqs=chrome..69i57.4749j0j4&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

[cs15dah]

Filter on order. Will be here on Thursday. Thanks Dieselfuture!

[Dieselfuture]

1 hour ago, cs15dah said:

Filter on order. Will be here on Thursday. Thanks Dieselfuture!

No problem, @IBMobile gets the credit, followed his foot steps.

It's still a good idea to flush it once in a while even with the filter. Same for brake fluid and antifreeze, it all degrades over time. 

[IBMobile]

This might help, shows where to put the filter.

 

 

[cs15dah]

Got the new lines installed, with filter in place.

 

It appears I might still have a leak where the reservoir mounts to the pump.  I sprayed degreaser on it all, but I ran out of light, so will check to see if I can find the source of the leak on another day.

 

I might just replace the whole power steering pump/reservoir...  Might be easier than trying to track down this leak.  I tried to replace the seals as a way to avoid taking the vacuum pump down again.  That was a pain.  Not necessarily hard, just a pain.

[Gregturley]

They sell dye kits with yellow glasses and a UV flashlight for cheap. They can really help pinpoint leaks.

[cs15dah]

Took the Ram out for about a 15 mile drive.  I don't see any fluid underneath the power steering pump, or on the ground after having it parked for about 30 mins.  I wonder if the fluid I saw on the bottom of the power steering pump was just runoff from when I wiped fluid all over the tubes before sliding the hoses onto them??  Not sure, but the UV dye arrives tomorrow.  I think I'll drive it a bit longer to see what happens, and keep the dye on the shelf for a future need.