Power Steering Leaking from Driver's side

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 17 Dec 2011, 16:35

Hi, this is basically a continuation of this thread: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 8&p=217751

Long story short, my leak got worse. I found the leak to be on the driver's side but can't find the exact place. It is coming down the cross member right behind the wheels and in front of the cat, but can't trace where exactly it's coming from. Is there a hose in this area or does this sound like the rack is leaking? Never worked with the steering system on these cars.

The car is a 1997 Volvo 855R
Thanks

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Dec 2011, 06:43

The hoses more or less go toward the center of the rack so a leak on the hoses is a possibility. Another place for the rack itself to leak in that area is at the seal where the steering column goes into the rack from above.

...Lee

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 18 Dec 2011, 11:25

Thanks for the info Lee. The car is up on ramps right now. So I guess I will start to track down the hoses. If I can't find any hoses, that are leaking, I'm going to try your method of running the Valvoline stop leak at 100% concentration (been using as an additive up to this point).

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 18 Dec 2011, 18:53

Look at the plug at the bottom of the rack for a leak. Trace a line from the steering pinion shaft (the input shaft connected to the steering wheel) straight through the housing. On the bottom where otherwise the shaft would come out is an aluminum plug that has an "O" ring seal and is "staked" in place (held in by some center-punch marks). It might be leaking from there if the steering pinion seal is good and the pressure and return line fittings aren't leaking.

I have a Eeuroparts rack (Atlantic is the rebuilder according to the Eeuroparts site) that I just put on the wagon about 6 months ago. It recently started leaking just where you say and I finally traced it to that plug; funny though, it only seemed to leak when parked. Some good, thick Lucas PS stop-leak has stopped it up for the most part - that stuff is like red-colored STP! Of course I misplaced the warranty tag and receipt for the rack, probably discarded them when cleaning up the geerage.

So long as it holds till spring I'll fix it then.

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 21 Dec 2011, 01:09

toolmanjsp wrote:Look at the plug at the bottom of the rack for a leak. Trace a line from the steering pinion shaft (the input shaft connected to the steering wheel) straight through the housing. On the bottom where otherwise the shaft would come out is an aluminum plug that has an "O" ring seal and is "staked" in place (held in by some center-punch marks). It might be leaking from there if the steering pinion seal is good and the pressure and return line fittings aren't leaking.

I have a Eeuroparts rack (Atlantic is the rebuilder according to the Eeuroparts site) that I just put on the wagon about 6 months ago. It recently started leaking just where you say and I finally traced it to that plug; funny though, it only seemed to leak when parked. Some good, thick Lucas PS stop-leak has stopped it up for the most part - that stuff is like red-colored STP! Of course I misplaced the warranty tag and receipt for the rack, probably discarded them when cleaning up the geerage.

So long as it holds till spring I'll fix it then.

Thanks for the tip. I'm putting the car back on ramps and I'll definitely check there. I'm trying my luck with Lucas PS stop leak too. Hasn't helped too much yet, but I have only been through about half a bottle, so I still have hopes.

The first time I put the car on ramps, I noticed that the bottom line that hooks up to the rack (the return line?) seemed to be leaking. But it was weird. The hose looked fine and I tried tightening it further, but it wouldn't budge, so I think it was tight. The fluid seems to go through the nut that is built into the line, but is not leaking before or after the nut (If that makes sense, I can try to put a picture up). How hard is it to replace the power steering lines?

Thanks

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 21 Dec 2011, 20:33

I have attached two pictures. In the first picture the bottom hose is what looks like it is leaking. But it is leaking from between the nut and the hose. Does that mean the hose is broken? It is not leaking in front of or behind the nut.

The second picture just shows the fluid drip.

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 21 Dec 2011, 20:34

I guess the picture order and file comments switched but I'm sure you guys get the idea. Is the hose hard to replace?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 21 Dec 2011, 21:58

From the pictures the line is cocked at a funny angle. It may be that you can get the flare nut off (usually not easy) and re align the tube to seal the leak.

Beyond the standard rusty bolt and the fact that it is a flare fitting problems it really isn't that hard of a job. As I recall there is a clamp that holds the hard lines in place near the rack but the rest of it justs fits into place.

My guess is the hardest part will be on your wallet to buy a new line if you need one. I have not priced those lines but an oil cooler line for my daughter's S70 set me back around $125.00 and it is a much simpler line.

...Lee

Srini850 · Post by **Srini850** » 21 Dec 2011, 23:37

Ozark Lee wrote:From the pictures the line is cocked at a funny angle. It may be that you can get the flare nut off (usually not easy) and re align the tube to seal the leak.

Beyond the standard rusty bolt and the fact that it is a flare fitting problems it really isn't that hard of a job. As I recall there is a clamp that holds the hard lines in place near the rack but the rest of it justs fits into place.

My guess is the hardest part will be on your wallet to buy a new line if you need one. I have not priced those lines but an oil cooler line for my daughter's S70 set me back around $125.00 and it is a much simpler line.

...Lee

Thanks again. I am going to try my best to get the flare nut off and realign the line. May need to make a trip to the tool store.

Just priced the power steering lines. $91 for the return hose and $169 for the pressure. Ouch! Can't afford that right now, so hopefully realigning the tube fixes it.

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 22 Dec 2011, 11:10

I just had those apart so remember them well, they are a "spigot" type fitting sealed with an O ring, not flares (O rings are number 10 and 12 on the diagram below). The diagram doesn't show it well, but the end of the tube is straight for about 1/4" then an annular ring is pressed into the tube which is what the nut pushes against when tightened. The O ring goes on the tip end of the tube and seals against the top of the bore that the short tip of tubing fits into. This design is what allows the leak to be seen coming from the center of the nut - if the O ring leaks the clearance between the hole in the nut and the outside diameter of the tube is the path of least resistance to the outside world; otherwise the leaking fluid would have to squeeze through the space between the threads.

The O rings are different sizes, I just used the best fit from my handy dandy Harbor Freight metric EPDM O ring assortment. It hard to tell only from your pictures but it looks like the return, low pressure line (bigger diameter) is the one leaking.

I'd bet a bad O ring is the problem and certainly if you take the tube off you should replace them. Not really too much under there that can damage the steel tubing, usually these type of hose/tube assemblies fail when they start leaking where the tubing joins the hose part, and that is forward by the radiator (or "raaaadiator" as they say here in Jersey - funny they pronounce radiator correctly when they are talking about the steam radiator in a building...). But given the apparent misalignment coming out of the nut, the tubing could have cracked where the annular ring is pressed into it.

As Lee says about clamps, there are two that hold the tubes in position, I think the rear-most one fastens to the rack itself and another one that is a bracket affair bolted to the forward part of the subframe, and mine has another band clamp under the oil pan that just keeps the two tubes held together. So long as you have room to work under there and the right size 1/4" drive Torx bit they shouldn't be too much of a problem. Of course to state the obvious, you will need to loosen these clamps to pull the tubes out of their fitting in the rack.

The Lucas stop leak has slowed my leak down a lot but it hasn't stopped yet, I may try to get that plug free and re-seal it. Sure don't want to have to tell the GF that I didn't get her the gold earrings she wanted for Christmas because her wagon needed another new steering rack!

Jeff