1984 240 with 230,000 miles. Loses pst regularly. There is not an obvious pst leak around the pump that I can see. Under the car near the wheel on the drivers side, the rubber boot is ripped open and wet. Is there a way to determine what needs to be fixed? Big job? $$?

 

Clean it good with brake clean and see if it gets wet again. Are you using fluid?

How does the belt look? Is it slipping?

 

I bought the car and the pump was dry, belt was in bad shape. Steering was poor. I added fluid, replaced the belt, steering was fine, seemed ok, then found that I was losing fluid pretty fast. I'm not driving the car right now so I can;t tell you how much it loses per mile, but I can say it is a significant leak.

 

Clean everything in the power steering loop good and start it and see where it is leaking from.

Might be a bad rack and leaking from there.

 

Found the problem - fixed in under 5 minutes! There is a hose that runs left to right along the sterring rack that carries fluid from side to side. The passenger side had popped out. Cleaned the area, pressed in the end of the line that popped out, added a plastic tie wrap to insure that it would not 'pop' out again, solid, no leaks.

 

I have a 1984 volvo and was going to ask the same quetion that you did steering rack or pump problem?

I lose 3 to 4 oz of fluid per week. I cannot tell where the fluid is going. The power steering pump makes noise always. If I hold it with my hand the noise goes away somewhat. The previous owner said that he was told that it needed a steering rack but I just want to confrim this.

Is the steering rack something that I can change out. Is it okay to get one from the junk yard? The cheapest I have seen them is $275 so far.

I have a haynes manuel the process seems easy but everything in the manuel seems easy before you start.

thanks

 

If you want to know exactly where it is leaking from Clean it all good and then see where it leaks from.

The steering rack is easy to change.

 

I found the leak it is coming from the driver side boot on the steering rack can the boot be repaired without removing it from the car?

 

If it is leaking out of the boot that means the seal in the rack is bad. The rack will need to be replaced

 

tech you have been real helpful, do you live in hampton roads I met a guy around here that was talking about putting a 5.0 motor in his volvo

it is leaking out of a whole in the boot not the side of the boot.

have you ever known anyone that got there rack rebuilt

what are your thoughts on getting a junk yard rack?

thanks

 

Junk yard one are ok.

Make sure that one doesn't leak before you get it.

No I live In Florida.

And the 5.0 engine is in my Mustang.

 

I got the junk yard steering rack
I was in the process of putting it end and I got stuck.
I need help on the connection between the steering rack and the steering linkage.
The male end on the steering rack has little grooves in it
I could not tell if the steering linkage female end had grooves or not.
Basically do I have to line the grooves up or do I just force everything them together with a hammer.

thanks

 

The rack and the female joint should have a flat spot that matches. Also see if it only has a groove on one side where the bolt slides through.