PAS leak (more a torrent)...

Evening all Returned from hols and decided to give my car a run as it hadn't been out in three weeks. Started on the button (thank goodness for Ctek) but as I trickled down the drive there was a funny noise. Pulling out of the drive (which is on a slope) there was even more noise as I had steering lock on and as I pulled out all power assistance disappeared. Turned round and went back onto the drive - nothing apparent (we have a gravel drive) and nothing under the engine so put it back in the garage. Ticked off, I went for a bike ride instead and on the tarmac drive onto the main road was a line of fluid plus a pool. Reflecting on this, when I got back from my ride I went back in the garage with a torch - nothing under the engine, but the o/side front wheel arch liner is dripping with fluid. There wasn't a leak previously, so I can only guess that one of the PAS lines has failed terminally... No room to see much in the garage, and I dont want to put lock on the rack to see more for fear of frying the PAS pump and incurring even more ££ pain. I will have to get it recovered to my Indie and then steal myself for some bad news on the costs - £500 for hoses plus all the labour associated with a dropped subframe to fit are what a search of other experiences suggests. The one lesson I will take though is to always check both ends of a 911 - a stupid, rookie, schoolboy error... On the plus side - at least it had the decency to fail on the drive, and not miles away from home on a bank holiday Monday. Small victories and all that. :sad: :sad:

If the leak is o/s/f then its the low pressure pipe that has come loose .. shove it back in .. jubilee clip to hold it in place and it should be fine ... at work we call this the pas mod ... Normally we see the ferrule has split / corroded on a service so just fit a clip to lock it in place .. many posts on here about it . The noise was the pump running dry .. kinda scary to be honest .

Thanks demort - your insight/knowledge is valuable as always! Yes - o/s/f. Scary (and expensive sounding) sums it up perfectly. Is it ok to move the car and put lock on the steering to get access to the pipes? Conscious that I don't want to fry the pump...

Yup that's fine .. you don't have to start the engine to do that but even so it will be fine . look at the pipes in front of you when the wheel is on a full right hand lock .. hopefully you will see one pipe disconnected .. put a jubilee clip over it .. either slide it on or undo and wrap it around then do it up .. pipes pushed back together and it will be fine . it's always the low pressure side that fails so no pressure . Fill the reservoir with pentosin .. chf .. start the car and let it bleed throw .. it will be noisy for a bit until you get the lvl correct ... air bubbles is what causes the noise . cant guarantee that's the fault .. but it is the most obvious .

A photo of my pipe when it popped, I shoved the hose back on, put 2 jubilee clips on, one either side of the "olive" on the steel pipe, problem solved :thumb: As Demort says, the pump sounds scary when dry, mine was fine after refilling with Pentosin CHF Make sure you clean the leaked Pentosin off from all suspension and pipework under the car, it will eat through anything rubber or plastic, so give it a good dose of brake cleaner or similar, then rinse it off with a hose/pressure washer :thumb:

Thanks both - home with the kids today, so assuming they are distracted with Youtube/Xbox, I will push the car out of the garage and take a better look. Good advice about washing off the fluid... Looks like I may have to order the Pentosin - or take the hit by going to Portsmouth OPC.

you can get chf 11s from eurocarparts / carparts4less / halfords / any motor factor

A quick update - cleaned everything off with brake cleaner and had a good poke around. The low pressure pipe connection appears sound, but looking beyond this through towards the rack itself (from the o/s/f) the two hard pipes that come off this are in an awful state and one looks to have split (there are still drips coming from it). Certainly Beyond my capabilities to resolve, so had a conversation with my garage and booked in for 2 weeks time to get it on a lift and take stock. I will get it recovered there to protect the pump. The two lines appear to be rather expensive (understatement...) but if they are dropping the front sub-frame, I might as well bite the bullet and get anything else sorted (brake line for one). All rather frustrating - but at least it happened at home.

A quick correction - it is the hard lines that form part of the rack itself that have apparently split. So should be rectified with a refurbished rack. The expensive lines are the ones that attach to the rack and then run aft - which apparently are unlikely to come out easily... Given the state of the metal pipework elsewhere on the car (I swear it must have been submerged in the sea at some stage in its 65k life...) I don't think I am going to get away with it!

That's a damn shame .. i was hoping for the easy fix . I'm afraid these do rot away and are becoming much more frequent these days.

A chap in Borsall Common makes the steel pipes for about £40 a set. New rack if you go to OPC.

I bought replacement rack hard lines here: £46 http://www.powersteeringstore.co.uk/ If its a PSM car you can whip the rack out, if an early non PSM car you need to drop the subframe. Do the brake pipe that runs in front of the rack at the same time.

Just to close this off - got the car back this week after three weeks in the garage. The hard lines on the rack could best be described as 'crusty'... Interestingly, mine was the third such incident they had seen this year - so worth being aware and checking. While mine failed while on the drive, had it gone at 60mph down a twisty lane the outcome might had been very different. Steering rack refurbished, along with new return lines back to the PAS pump as the originals were welded into the rack. Should see out the life of the car now, particularly as I wont be using it in the winter. On the plus side of things, the pump seems fine. I took the opportunity to get new coffin arms/tuning forks fitted to the front end at the same time. The difference is astonishing, and I will be replacing the arms at the rear as soon as my wallet has recovered. A not insignificant cost, but should help to retain the value (not to mention usability) going forwards. Thanks for everyones suggestions and advice - really appreciated :thumbs:

My low pressure pipe popped off last week. My mechanic has just crimped a new Aluminium end on it so it's like new again. He did suggest putting a couple of jubilee clips on but stated he didn't want to bodge it :grin: You cowboys! :wack: :wink: