Leaking Power Steering Pump (I think)

Jaystation

Jaystation

Jaystation

Associate
Joined
3 Jul 2014
Posts
112
Hi,

Quick question, as Im not a mechanic. We have an old Jeep Cherokee in the drive, that I think we're just going to give to someone int he family. I took it for a drive a couple of days ago and found crazy loud squeaking coming every time I turned the wheel. I checked the power steering oil and it was empty so I replaced it, which stopped the squeaking.

A couple of days later, I noticed the oil leaking under the car, and the oil almost empty again.

I guess there has to be a leak somewhere. Is this an easy fix, something I can take on a project for myself, or something that needs to be taken in? I don't know if the pump is shot, or if something is just loose.
 
Here's my experience with a leaking landrover power steering system.

Firstly there's 3 levels of cost, from High to Low:

1) Power steering box - muchos monies, either for brand new, or reconditioned.
2) Power steering pump - on a LR an oem part was ~ £100.00 inc vat
3) high pressure/low pressure feed hoses from the reservoir to the pump to the steering box. Genuine parts cost an arm and a leg for a bit of pipe with a hydraulic hose fitting on either end. Pattern parts cost about a third of oem and fitted fine.

I don't know how the steering is arranged on a jeep - if it's a rack and pinion or steering box with track rods or a pitman arm type affair.
Check the cheap stuff first.

Start with hoses. The Low Pressure stuff can be got from any hydraulic specialist - I got some replacement hose for under a fiver - I got this from a local place after ringing around a bit.
The High Pressure stuff is generally a solid pipe with rubber hose on either end with a union that screws into the steering box and the pump.

Next up in cost is the Power Steering Pump. Those fitted to LR vehicles have two halves that are bolted together with a seal in-between (this is what caused the leak on mine). Seal kits can be sourced for relatively little monies, but you have to know what you're doing to strip the old unit down. It was easier to just replace it.

Finally, if your steering box is ****ed, expect a large bill, both for the unit itself and for the fitting. Iirc anything from 300 quid to 1k depending.

Get underneath and clean off any pipes and areas you can see associated with the PS system - use an old rag or something. Top up the system. Wait for leaks to show. If the vehicle is standing for a few days, get a large cardboard box, flatten it out and weight it down under the engine bay, that way you can track where the oil is leaking from.

Don't bother with any kind of stop leak product.

Replacing the hoses is fairy easy to do with a few basic tools, the same can probably be said for the steering pump - it took longer to remove the bits to gain access to the hoses than it did to replace the hoses... Replacing the steering box (at least on a LR) will be harder. All of these will be dirty, scratting about under the car jobs, lying in puddles of ps fluid :p
 
Wow, thanks Jumpy!

A lot of good info there, I will definitely take the advice onboard and start on this tomorrow. I can already see that it will take some time to remove everything needed to get to the hoses haha! I will keep you updated!

Troops - I could hire someone else to do it, but where is the fun in that. I might as well use this as a learning curve to figure out what I'm doing. Plus, if I mess it up, well just scrap the car!
 
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