1998 S70 T5 - Steering rack leaking?

[babelfish]

Got it up on ramps and had a look. Tough to tell where the leak is coming from, but it looks like it's coming from near where the column connects to the rack. Could be coming from a hard line in the same area, but it's very, very difficult to tell. I'll be bringing it into the shop as soon as they're open (they've been closed for remodeling the last few weeks, and when I saw the mechanic today, he wasn't sure if they'd be open this week, though he said to drop the car off anyway in case it's something simple -- I doubt it!).

[shaker_chi]

Don't look underneath. Pop the hood and look at the TOP of the steering rack. Most if not all leaks come from that seal. It may seem that it is coming from one of the lines, but its not. Start the care, put a drop light down there and look at the top of the steering rack and have someone turn the wheel hard to one side and after a few minutes you should see some fluid leaking out. I just had the same issue, thought it was coming from the side. Good luck.

[j-dawg]

a method i like - wipe down the area in question, squeeze a (light!) dusting of baby powder onto it, and observe the location of the leak and path of the fluid.

this can get a little gooey if you use too much powder, but if you just squeeze the bottle near the offending region you should get a layer thick enough to be useful, thin enough to not be messy.