Power Steering Pump

[owen1183]

Afternoon All...... We fitted Power steering a year or 2 back to my dads 2000.... mk11

It was put away in the garage over winter and all was well. However My dad went into the garage the other day to find a puddle of PAS fluid over the floor.....

He topped up the pump and went away.... came back the next day and the puddle was bigger....

Is it easy enough to replace the seals in the pump? (assuming this is where the leak is coming from?)

I.E do I need any pullers etc?

Thanks

[Dave B]

Its much more likely to be the rack than the pump. I've had this before on one of mine after its stood for a few months. I found the the leak lessened quite considerably after some use of the car.

[johnnydog]

I agree with Dave; if you loosen the clips around each track rod, and gently squeeze the gaitors, you will soon find out whether it's the rack seals.
I have also had one of the thicker metal pipes from the pump get a hole in it after it rubbed on the cross member from poor positioning with movement of the engine. Unlikely to be that as you have not really used the car after fitting it, but worth a check if they were fitted from another car, and to make sure they are clear of the cross member. Worth checking all the unions are tight, of course.
If it actually is the pump, then you should be able to source a good used one from a member on here.

[tony]

[quote="johnnydog"]I agree with Dave; if you loosen the clips around each track rod, and gently squeeze the gaitors, you will soon find out whether it's the rack seals.

I know about this, When cleaning the underside of the S when I first got her, I removed one of the gaiters to adjust the inner ball joints and got covered in ATF.
Result, a recon rack assy.
Tony.

[Mike Stevens]

Actually, if you just squeeze either gaiter, if you have a seal leak, you can hear the ATF gurgling through the air balance pipe!

I've also found that if left for a length of time, the seal seems to (sometimes) leak and that subsequent usage can reduce the leak rate! However, the only real fix is a replacement seal. This can be done at home but is a bit of a specialist job so often the easiest route is a replacement rack assembly.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Dave B]

Before going to the trouble of removing/stripping parts, it may be worthwhile investing a tenner or so in one of the proprietary power steering 'stop leak' products such as Wynns, STP, Lucas (other brands are available ). These work with varying sucess, as they claim to expand the seals in the rack/pump. Only try these though when the car is going to get a reasonable amount of use, it needs to mix with the p/s fluid and circulate around the system.