Power Steering problems...

[DRblack50stang]

Alright well bear with me im new to the whole 5.0 thing (its my first real car). Anyway lately I have been going through a container of power steering fluid every 2 days, it has been leaking like crazy. This is bad because by the time im out of school i barely have any power steering. Anyway I got under the car tonight and changed the oil, which btw (my dipstick reads wayyy above the XXX's if you know what i mean and thats when i only put 4 quarts in so im not sure if it is rubbing somewhere and giving an inaccurate reading..) anyway the two lines from the PS reservoir are crazy loose so im guessing it is just a bad seal there? if anyone has any experience with this it would be much appreciated. Lets see..anothet thing I was wondering was what is with the little map light in my car, that thing cracks me up. Anyway its late and I have PS fluid in my hair so ill get back at it tomorow, but anything you can tell me like where to get a new PS line or whatever would be super. Thanks
dan

 

[HISSIN50]

Dan, welcome.

PS: there is a high and low pressure line on the pump. the lines are relatively cheap to replace. have you cleaned it all up and looked for the trail to see where it is leaking from? i would clean the rack, the pump, the lines and check the PS cooler lines (they are by the radiator - the cooler is a metal line. DOH).

oil: did you remove both drain plugs? some dipsticks are off and have to be remarked. e.g. my stick reads full after 4.25 quarts have been added (and the filter is full). when filled with 5 quarts, the reading is way above the hatch marks.

good luck Dan.

 

[DRblack50stang]

Thanks HISSIN
I did clean up most of the area around the PS pump and i beleive I have found where the leak is coming from. Im going to check around on where to get parts. And hopefully get this sorted out.

I did drain both plugs and the dipstick still read inaccurately. It did this before i changed the oil when it was old oil and i though the previous owner may have overfilled but apparantly not. Should I just put in 5 quarts and let it run a few minutes and then check what the dipstick reads and mark that as full? I dont know what would be rubbing to make it read that way but we'll see.
Well that should do it for now. IM stuck driving my Jetta for now since the mustangs laid up which is just fine for now since I have no heat or defrost (need to put in a heater core) which I am putting off since I heard it is a pain. Well see thanks again
DAn

 

[rd]

You did not say where the leak was.

The lines are sealed by o rings, not threaded fittings, and are supposed to be free to swivel a bit at the pump and rack. Tightening them will not fix a leak and may make it worse.

The pump is easy to change if you have the pulley remover and installer.

The lines are easy, except that getting wrenches to the fittings on the rack can be a bit difficult. Sometimes you have to take both off to get to them.

The rack is also not hard to change, just a bit time consuming. Most parts stores, Carquest, Autozone, etc carry all the parts.

 

[HISSIN50]

Dan, the oil thing is weird. here is the crux for me. the sticks can be off, but yours seems way off. we all know that too much oil is a bad thing so i dont know what to recommend.

RD is right on with what he posted. as he asked, where was the leak?

good luck.

 

[4dStang]

My dipstick seems to drag along the tube picking up oil and is hardly readable in my 95 GT. It reads about 4" above the line but I know that is a false reading. I also know it eats oil so I have to watch it, as long as its on the stick, I don't really worry too much. But I think what you are seeing is what I am seeing. It can be hard to tell what the level is, but maybe if you turn the stick around it will read different? I'll try it on mine later.

 

[HISSIN50]

generally one side of the stick will get smeared, while the other reads alright. checking it on a cold motor can help too.

 

[DRblack50stang]

Alright heres an update we got a crowfoot wrench and pulled the two lines and replaced the O-rings which werent great. Were going to give it a test run and if it doesnt work then we'll know its the pump I guess.
The Oil thing is the same on both sides of the dipstick. I seems like something is dragging and I did check it on a cold motor with no success. Im really not sure what to do as I dont want to over fill or even worse run it without enough. As far as i know it doesnt leak or burn oil but its still not the kind of thing i want to mess with. Ill see what I can figure out, for now its sitting in the garage where its safe.
Thanks guys
Dan

 

[Goldmember]

Maybe you have the wrong dipstick or something. What I would do is drain the oil and add 5 new quarts of oil making shure that the car is level, run it for a couple of minutes, shut it down for 20 minutes so all the oil settles and then I would scribe a line where the oil level reads.