Power steering hardline turns in connector - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

As the title says, at the steering rack the hard line (the 90deg bended pipes) are able to turn in the adapter mating to the steering rack. Likely this happened during removal as they were both very hard to get out of the rack. I am assuming they are not supposed to turn. If placed back, will they leak?

Mark, are you talking about the 90 degree pipes that connect to the rack? The ones that use the green 'viton o-ring'? If so, these are held in position by a metal plate and the o-rings keep the fluid from leaking

It is indeed the 90deg bended pipe, but the pipe itself turns in the adapter (not the adapter in the steering rack, which would be ok). So it turns at the red arrow: Would I have read about this connector is that inside that part it also has an o-ring (or two?) sealing the pipe. Then this adapter is 'crimped' onto the pipe. It seems like this crimping is not effective anymore.

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Uhh, that's no good (This means you will need a new hose..) :-( A while ago (on my 987CS) I installed an external cooling radiator for the power steering, using the the high pressure connectors that plugs into the rack, cut the metal pipes off and took them to a machine shop to weld an AN fittings to them (where your red arrow is), then used standard AN fittings to plug the lines into the hoses that runs towards the rear of the car. Hopefully my explanation makes sense.

Thanks Gilles, I was a bit afraid of that... So, time to cut the crimp part of and pull the pipe out. You might just be able to see that it does have an O-ring to seal and inside the pipe the deformation due to the crimping is visible. So it still can't be pulled out and it might still seal, but not taking chances on this. Your idea of welding on a standard fitting is a good one. I might try that with a local welder and probably go for a metric fitting (AN is not very popular here, although JIC is quite available) as suggested by the local hydraulics shop. Otherwise I can buy some adapters from the bay, but these are expensive. There is a zinc plated steel set available with the same sealing (to the rack) as the originals. This combination I do like, but from the pictures you can already see that althought it'll fit AN, it does not conform to the standard (the rings from turning on the lathe are still visible on the sealing flange..). The other set uses double O-rings on the rack side, but do look a lot better quality wise (and are a little cheaper as a bonus). Still, by far cheapest is to get them welded up. I have a double set (my car and the wreck) so can tolerate one going bad.

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Yes, indeed! That is the piece that I used to weld the AN fitting into, and never had an issue with leaks (I used a pro welder), is not the prettiest, but nobody will notice PS: I would not worry if you still have a piece of tube inside the fitting

Do you happen to have any pictures? And what did you do with the filter / valve in the pressure fitting? It appears to be made of some plastic so I expect it to melt during welding.

So I cut two pressure connectors off as well. One had the valve gone bad, so I removed it. Seems it was pressed it. Do you happen to know the alloy these are made of? It is not ferrous (not sticking to my magnets), it is not aluminum. Looks a bit like brass? (but then zinc plated?) Just wondering for any welding...Should get some similar metal for the other side, no?

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Hello Marc, I am sorry but I was not able to find any pictures (more than ten years ago..) But I believe that the material of those couplings is stainless steel, and remember that when I took them to get the AN fittings welded on, the shop didn't ask any questions. Regarding the valve.. since I bought my 987CS from the dealer it came with factory warranty and got the first services at the dealer for warranty protection, the service manager knew that I was tracking the car and after two failed steering pumps (overheated), he removed the valve you are mentioning all together and told me that sometimes it could be making noise, but I never noticed it, this was the reason I decided to upgrade the system and add an external cooling radiator for the hydraulic steering fluid, and never had any issues afterwards. .

Thanks so much Gilles. Modifying these adapters is turning into a bit of a rabbit hole now and I like to move along, so I guess I'll cough up and get some adapters ordered. My fittings are not stainless steel, running the saw through was far easier than stainless and even easier than regular iron / steel would be. Also the goldish color suggest it is more related to brass. Still that can be welded, but not trivial at all. So really happy for you that you found a good welder who didn't even ask questions ;-) As for fittings there are three types available in Europe (all in the UK unfortunately); Aluminum ones, using the Porsche style O-rings. Look fine quality wise Same shape, but zinc coated steel. The finish does look a bit rough (lathe rings at the 37deg sealing section) Or stainless steel ones using a different double O-ring sealing. Finish looks good. The adapter at the hose end is going to be either steel or stainless steel. Any recommendations? I am leaning towards the stainless ones.., but open for input [Edit] Looking in more detail, the stainless steel ones have both lines going to AN6. The JIC fittings I can get allow up to 3/8" hose. Porsche actually uses 1/2" and in many places it is suggested that the return line should be oversized compared to pressure line (low pressure drop on the return). So leaning to either steel or aluminum ones now.

I am no epert by any means but logic tells me that a double o-ring should protect you from leaks better? Assuming that the diameter of the replacement is identical to the one you removed. The nice part is the fact that you will be able to connect an AN fitting to the coupler .

Still, the price of the adapters I can find just doesn't feel right. I know in the cost of the whole project I won't see it in the end, but still USD 190 for two of those small things? That is just insane. So, not wanting to support insanity, another idea came up. There are hydraulic bulkhead adapters available which can be welded in. These have a thick middle section which can easily be shaped on a lathe to fit the steering rack. This part is less than USD10, so easier on the wallet. I am now searching for someone with a lathe. Here you can see the black steel bulkhead adapter which can be turned down. Attached a 90 deg hose fitting. As you can see, comparing to the original, it would come out at about the same place.