Hello all my name is Lee Jones
I have a GTO SR
It has the following issue - hello, so I pulled into my drive tonight and heard a strange sound coming from the dash. I looked into the engine bay and when I rev the car it makes a horrid sound. I then noticed power steering fluid all over the drive, the fluid is tank is completely empty! The steering wheel is hard to turn and noisy (obviously). A new pump was fitted 2 years ago so maybe it’s a leak from a pipe? Can anyone recommend what to look for or any tips on what to do next? Thanks!
Its worth a look at the aluminium cooling pipework that runs down the chassis rail under the reservoir towards the front of the car there is a pair clipped together they run down to the centre opening below the registration plate at the front.
Standing in front of the car with the bonnet up these run down the chassis rail on your right and once in the opening they turn to your left and go across the front of the opening in front of the radiator and are secured halfway across to the centre upright.
These are made from plastic coated aluminium tube which if the plastic is damaged from stones etc the aluminium corrodes and in my case then fractures and the PS fluid leaks through the break.
This may not be the case on yours but its worth a look
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Thanks for your suggestion, I will check that area out. It looks like the leak is coming from not to far under the pump location so I just need to get under the car when it’s light to check. Thanks
So just had another look. the dripping is coming from the at area under the car. i put 100ml of fluid in and it sat until i turned the engine on but it eventually drained out pretty quickly. I just can’t get under the car even when jacked up as its too low. hoping a pipe has popped off due to the speed of it coming out.
Sounds like its the high pressure side if it pumps it out quickly once the engine is running the tube I was talking about previously is the low pressure side that Aluminium tube is designed to cool the PS fluid as it returns to the reservoir,
You need to to look at the hoses that run from the pump to the steering rack to see if they have split anywhere
Hi, just managed to get underneath and have found the leak! looks like a hard line split? please see image. its dripping out lots but maybe not as quick as i first thought.
Nasty one, wouldn’t be that easy to get to it.
its split somewhere along that line - it seems to be a bout 2 foot long from bolt to bolt. i take it the only option is to replace (if i can get one) - no chance of repair? thanks
Depending on where it is split you may be looking at replacing the rack.
the split is literally on that part - i just put some fluid in now and looked whilst the engine is on. you can see it squirting a fine line out from there.
Wayne Coxon at Japattack took two rear steering supply pipes off a breaker ,so may have decent ones. I just bought ABS pump but local guy did my leak which was back end of supply pipe near rear junction.
Spoke with Rob from Evil and it looks like its the power steering rack hard pipes. so ordered these - he said its a common problem and i can easily fit them myself on the drive - not sure about that but i will give it a go! cheers for all the replies!
Hi Lee
I have tried blowing your photo up, are you sure that is a hard line split its difficult to tell from the image, can you tell me what position you are in when under the car and I will try and have a look at mine from a similar prospective
Hi yes I think so. Ive took another better image. (the area underneath is close to the passengers side wheel but further inwards).I have marked where the leak is - it was squirting out from here anyway - and the left/right sides are dry so it has to be this (hopefully)! Just hope i can get to the bolts easy enough as its quite tight.
i can’t upload the image - I’ve tried loads of times sorry
Just want to throw this in on the subject of P/S system leaks for our cars:
The overall location of the P/S pump cooling lines that are made of soft aluminium are in such a tight spot running along the frame is a real pain when doing a timing belt change. Those lines that are in the way always interfere with work and then they have to be disconnected or slightly moved with the chance or bending and breaking them, and thus that is what happened to me when I first did a timing belt change much before my build. Then if you have a AWS system there is more pressure in those lines and you literally have to make sure you use very high quality clamps or you will eventually have a leak due to the high pressure buildup when running the car hard or in hot weather months. That is why I have completely redesigned all the piping by getting rid of the factory P/S cooling lines with high performance high heat resistance silicon tubing that now is located in areas that will not interfere when doing a timing belt change or getting down in that tight area between the frame and the front of the engine. Also upgraded the P/S cooling system and using rubber coated locking clamps at all the connections from the pump itself to high pressure lines, God forbid if this car ever has a P/S leak again I will drive it of the cliff!!!
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