2001 V70 2.4T Power steering pressure hose leak

[Blacklab467]

In my experience I've found those to be more of a source of frustration. My preference is moving blankets or old dog beds. Moving blankets can be purchased cheap and thrown out when they get soiled with grease and oil.
I have been following your thread with interest. It looks like you are going to take another crack at it. Did you end up dropping the subframe and lifting the engine from below or not?
One other thing I thought might help is to "assemble" the pressure and return line now that you have them both off in the correct orientation such that they could meet with the threads on the rack and "practise" feeding the pressure line along the return line as if it were in situ to determine how best to get it in there.
I wish I was there and could help you!

[abscate]

You need a fairly smooth driveway to roll those under and a high lift on the car, too.

Amazon boxes are great under car tools

Pizza boxes contain oil/ grease well, prevent roll away tool loss, and come with free dinner; notwithstanding the opportunity for both Oxford commas and semi-colons.

[volvolugnut]

You are correct to be concerned about the creeper working well on rough surface. They also add about 3-4 inches to your height under these already low cars.
Foam pads are thinner and will keep your back off the cold ground.
I only use flattened cardboard boxes. They are free, always available around the house, and just throw them out when they eventually get dirty. They are very thin and typically very large size.
In my area, where I work outside on gravel, they slow down the ticks and bugs from creeping on me.
volvolugnut

[prwood]

Alright, tomorrow is the day... no rain in the forecast... cold, but not below freezing. I'm going to make another attempt at installing the power steering pressure hose. I spent tonight doing some planning and recon. Here are a few findings and questions:

1. I laid the old and new hoses next to each other to compare geometry. One thing to note is that the old hose was not the correct hose for my model - it is part # 8634217 which is for 2001-2003 non-turbo V70 and S60s, which nevertheless was technically compatible, albiet ill-fitting. The major difference is with the bit of hose that comes up to the engine compartment, but I believe the bottom parts of the hose that connect to the steering rack should be roughly the same. here's what they look like next to each other:

The bottom geometry basically looks the same, until you get to the right side where the old hose bends to the left and the new hose bends to the right. The hose does flex in that area, though, so I'm not sure which one is preferable.

2. I compared the nipples on the old and new hose. The new hose has a shorter nut but more thread, where the old one has a longer nut and less thread. The length and angle of the piping leading to the end of the hose is the same though.

3. Took another gander at the obstructions around the steering rack connections. The engine mount is clearly an obstruction, and removing it would make things easier. There's also some sort of connector black connector that seems permanently attached to the transmission which is also obstructing things.

4. If I do remove the engine mount, do I need to keep something under the transmission to hold things up while the mount is removed? If so, this might end up being worse since a jack or a jack stand right there would definitely get in my way.

5. It does seem like lifting the car a bit higher would make things more comfortable. I have to find a suitable wood block to use... normally my father-in-law has a ton of extra wood laying around from carpentry projects, but he seems to have cleaned up most of it...

[Blacklab467]

The hose looks like it will work fine. You got the old hose out with the rear engine mount installed correct? I still cannot figure out why you don't make it easy on yourself and drop the subframe and give yourself some room in there, it's easy and only takes about half an hour. If you take the rear engine mount out the engine will not drop, it's well supported in the front and on the passenger side. Good luck tomorrow!

[prwood]

Success! I got the pressure hose successfully connected, put everything back together, and everything is working with no leaks! Today's work took about 6 hours, and included installing the pressure hose, the return hose, the steering rack heat shield, the heat shields and mounting members fore and after of the catalytic converter, the engine cooling fan and upper intercooler hose.

A few notes in no particular order:

- The new hose, as I had previously noted, has longer threading, which you can see in the photo at the steering rack with some thread protruding even though it is socked down tight. I'm hoping that it's tight enough to stay threaded in - the end at the pump has a locking clip that's connected from the side of the pump and locks in place around the nut to keep it from rotating. VIDA does make a note of the thread possibly protruding on the pump end of the hose (at the point where it tells you to install the locking clip), but nothing about the thread on the rack end. I suppose I just check it periodically? Maybe the rack end isn't as prone to vibration as the pump end?

- I didn't lower the subframe or remove the rear lower engine mount. I felt confident that I could accomplish the job without doing either one.*

- I did raise the car an additional 4 inches by laying my jack on top of a couple of boards. This made things just a bit more comfortable. I added a few extra jackstands as backup due to the height. I also covered the pavement with cardboard and then foam pads on top. Not as much scraping my back today.

- I had also gone through the whole VIDA procedure for removing the pressure hose, which includes removing the heat shield over the steering rack and completely removing the return hose. I think if I had done those things from the get-go it would have made my life a lot easier.

- Yes, it's a bit awkward to work around the engine mount, but it is do-able. I used a short-handled 1/4" ratchet with a 6" extension and crowsfoot heads, reaching my arm up, over, and behind the engine mount. Lots of small ratchets, stopping to pull the wrench back, and rotate the crowsfoot back around when it couldn't ratchet around due to an obstruction. It was a bit tedious but I took some deep breaths and approached it in a methodical way, and I eventually got both hoses threaded into the rack and tightened.

- The routing of the pressure hose isn't perfect. It doesn't fit into all of the clips on the subframe like it's supposed to, but it works, and it's still stays in place pretty tight with no rattling. I think maybe a Genuine Volvo hose might have had a better shape?

- After two weeks sitting in my driveway through a number of rainstorms, inclined on jackstands at a steep angle, when I lowered the car, about 1 liter of water drained out of a port VERY close to the steering rack, which gave me a bit of a scare, but when I realized it was all water... phew.

- I followed the VIDA instructions for finishing the power steering job with bleeding the air out of the system, which are as follows:
1. With wheels still raised, start engine, turn steering wheel left and right to full lock several times, then top off fluid if needed.
2. Lower car.
3. Start engine, turn steering wheel left to full lock, hold for 2 seconds, then turn right to full lock and hold for 2 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
- However, the above still seems to have left some air in the system - on my initial drive out, steering was intermittently very stiff, especially at low RPMs. After about 20 minutes of driving around the neighborhood doing lots of left and right turns at various speeds, steering was back to normal. Perhaps it had more air in the system than might otherwise be the case due to the system being open to air for two weeks.

- The power steering pump was also extremely loud the first time I started it up. After running loud for a few minutes, then shutting off the car and starting back up, it seems to have quieted down. Maybe it just needed a chance to get lubricated. No issues since then.

- The pressure hose mounting nuts needed 5/8" crowsfoot wrenches on both ends (or 16mm if you have it, my set doesn't); the return hose used a 19mm crowsfoot.

- The steering rack heat shield screws needed T25 torx bits or keys for removal/installation. This was honestly one of the harder parts of the job because I couldn't see the screws or the holes at all while working with it.

- The VIDA instructions direct you to disconnect the battery at the negative terminal before starting the job. I ignored this back when I first started the job two weeks ago, and it was bad news. Why? Because the spot where you feed the pressure hose up through the engine compartment goes RIGHT past the hot terminal of the starter motor. Yikes. There were some sparks and smoke when the metal part of the hose came in contact with it before I quickly ran back to disconnect the battery. Luckily I wasn't in contact with the metal at the time. It also makes a lot of sense why the section of the hose that ends up being installed right next to the starter is RUBBER.

*I do have a question about lowering the subframe, for those who have done it - the steering rack is attached to the subframe, yes? And also to the steering column? So when you lower the subframe, are you disconnecting the rack from the subframe, and then lowering the subframe away from the rack? Or are you disconnecting the rack from the steering column and bringing the rack down with the subframe? I was just having a hard time picturing what advantage it would offer me, especially considering the limited space under the car.

All in all, I would say the biggest lesson was that I should have followed the VIDA instructions precisely AT A MINIMUM. They result in the proper components being removed in the proper order to make the job easier and safer. Extra things I did like removing the cooling fan and intercooler hose were probably not necessary but did make routing the hose up the engine easier, and were relatively easy to accomplish, especially since I had done them before and was comfortable with the process. Also, getting the car lifted as high as possible makes the job more comfortable.

Finally. I'll share these two photos. One is a photo my wife took of me a couple weeks ago when the project was in early stages but already not going well. The other is the photo I took today when I was able to drive the car out to get some gas. Phew!

I'd be happy to answer any questions if folks have them.

[Blacklab467]

Good job doing what I would consider a nasty job, but doable. When you mention checking the fittings for tightness, mine were hand tight on the rack and it wasn't leaking there oddly enough. Second, dropping the subframe doesn't require disconnecting the steering coupler or loosening the rack unless you really drop it way down ( 4 inches or more). I can't imagine how hard it must have been crawling under that car for this job, it doesn't seem like its jacked very high up, nonetheless, enjoy driving your car even more now, now that its fixed!

[Blacklab467]

By the way...... I wish we were paying $3.29 for gas! I hope America never gets a carbon tax!

[prwood]

I can't imagine how hard it must have been crawling under that car for this job, it doesn't seem like its jacked very high up, nonetheless, enjoy driving your car even more now, now that its fixed!

I ended up jacking it quite a bit higher than it was in the above photo. Later that day I jacked it up about 3 more inches and then today I added 4 more inches for a total of 7 inches higher than in that photo.

[abscate]

Congratulations Pgill!