Power Steering Leak, Help Identify!

[PonyBoy90]

Pulled into my parents garage Saturday night and noticed a slight/slow drip on the driverside in the engine bay just under the engine. Stuck my finger into the drip and noticed by the red colour and smell that it's power steering fluid. I drove the car about 90 miles and felt no problems with the steering wheel or control (reaction was fine on the highway). The dripping seems to be coming from the area under the steering shaft where the hose going in and the fluid return hose come out however I can't see it very well as my car's lowered and as I have a black rust proof undercoating, can't tell the steering fluid from the rust proofing oil until it actually hits the concrete. I checked for any cracks in my steering pump or at any of the hose connections on it and there doesn't seem to be any leaking from the connections or pump itself.

I checked the power steering pump reservior dipstick and it did look a little lower than usual so I topped it up. I proceeded to drive the car back to my apartment Sunday night which is another 90 miles and upon checking the reservior, saw that there was no change in the level of the fluid, however, it did drip again on the floor soon after I shut the engine off.

I put a little yogurt container under the spot at around 8pm and the next morning checked the container for the amount of steering fluid in it. The car seems to drip about a teaspoon of fluid and then stops dripping.

Can someone please tell me ALL the places steering fluid get's into and may be dripping from.

My only assumption at this point is that one of my 2 hoses has a leak or crack and needs to be replaced.

I don't beat on my car either by taking sharp turns at high speeds.

As I said, control/reaction of my car is still the same as before the leak, my pump doesn't sound noisy or noisier than usual, and the leak is small enough in that I'm not having to refill my reservior before every trip. I'm ruling out the pump going bad as I have no trouble turning the wheel at all.

Thanks

 

[jrichker]

Buy several spray cans of non-flammable brake parts cleaner. Jack the front of the car up and put jackstands under the lower control arms. Remove the jack and then spray everything down until is is all clean & shiny. Then wipe up the excess fluid & let it all dry. Start the car, and have a buddy turn the steering wheel full right and full left several times. Look for leaks as he turns the steering wheel. Just don't get your head in the way...

 

[79'293stang]

like jrichker said check your line, i had a line blow out last week and when you turn the wheel while running it will spray like none other unless its leaking from the reservoir, maybe you should check your tranny lines running to your radiator as well i know mine are around that vacinity and that could be another thing that could be leaking.

 

[88stangmangt]

ford uses those POS weak screw clamps and it is prob the the return line that has maybe dry rotted and is leaking (the return line is none pressured)that was where mine was.... leaking till i pur better screw clamps on it.

 

[PonyBoy90]

I called my Mustang mechanic and he believes it's the return line also as I'm not losing enough fluid fast enough for it to be the pressure line, the pump or the rack. Unfortunately, the leak seems to be coming from the bottom end of the return line that comes out of (or plugs into) the rack and pinion.

He told me there's so much pressure in the power steering that if it or the pressure line were leaking, it wouldn't be leaking but SPRAYING all over the place and I'd have a real mess on the floor. Currently my mess on the floor is concertrated on one spot and that's right under the rack and pinion where the steering shaft is and the pump lines hook up to.

Can't be the tranny seeing as my rides a manual T5 and not an automatic and on top of that, I am missing small amount's of fluid in my power steering reservior ever few days after the cars been sitting for about 4 hours. After it sits for about 4 hours it stops which leads me to beleive that once I turn the engine off, whatever fluid from the pump is remaining inside the return line is emptying out onto the garage floor

 

[88stangmangt]

just hop under there check it out........if it is a weak clamp re-lace it......dry rotted line swap it out all in all less then a dollar............ dont let a mechanic rip you off for that around here mechanic labor goes for 120 a hour.

 

[sic91sleeper]

My power steering rack just started leaking really badly two weeks ago and I haven't driven it since. I pinpointed my leaking to the rubber covers that go from the rack underneath towards the tie rod ends. It drained all my fluid into my drip pan and their isn't any in the pump anymore. I think it some type of bushing or what not that has just gone out after 165,000 miles.

 

[88stangmangt]

not gonna be a sic91sleeper with the loud dieing wine of the P/S pump.