Hello, I'm new to this forum and I was working on my car recently (2000 V70 base) and encountered a problem. I'm replacing the tie rods ( inner and outer) and on the passenger side of my vehicle I took the boot off of the inner tie rod and there was a bit of black fluid inside the boot. Also there isn't a plastic bushing behind the inner tie rod like there was on the other side. I'm not the original owner of this car so I'm thinking something was done to it before. I've never seen the fluid leak out underneath the car so I don't think the leak is that bad. Could this just be because that plastic bushing isn't there? Or is there something else?

 

Hello, if the leak isn’t too bad then you can get away with it. Unfortunately with problems like this the longer you wait the worse the leak may become. I had the similar problem with my 1998 V70 XC. My problem was a Power Steering leak. May I recommend you try a product by Lucas called Hi-Performance Power Steering Stop Leak. Basically you dump this stuff were you put your Power Steering fluid and it should stop any leaks. Works on racks and pinions. It worked for me. Just putting that out there.
Good Luck.