My power steering has been leaking for about a week now, after filling up the power steering fluid with ATF I started my car and had someone turn the wheel back and fourth while raising the rpm's. After about 30 seconds of doing this (all the while the pump was making that horribile whining noise) I watched as the fluid expolded out from under the cap, it was leaking everywhere. Its almost as if there is a block in the system causing the pressure to push the fluid out around the cap, or could this just be a bad cap?
I can't help much. Mine was leaking out from underneath where the pulley mounts. You could not see where it was leaking from but the fluid was slung ALL over the place near the power steering pump. If you have a factory repair manual, go through the checklist to see what could cause your problem.
Do you mean its only leaking at the cap? You might have put too much fluid in and when it finally heated up, it expanded that little bit and had nowhere to go.....so it went out the weakest point, the cap. If the pump is making noise it is most likely shot. You can buy a repair kit or just buy a new pump. I opted for a new pump and all is well. I hope that helps some.
What a bump! I would search the forum more as you are bound to find the answer. Check the lines and pump. An annoying problem with a couple easy solutions.
hehe yeah have been hence how i found the 10 year old post. Seems this was the closest person to having the same issue i did but here is how mine happened -
Basically i did one trackday fine with a power steering cooler installed (used fully syn fluid as well) and everything was fine, ran it a bunch of times after the trackday as well, but then about the 3rd short trip after, out of the blue fluid started to seep out the reservoir, happened when i drove out somewhere and then the same when i got back home (by now the pump is whining though) so next time i started the car i topped it up and then started it and the whine seemed to slowly get louder and eventually there was no power steering feel Now it somehow feels like i have a block somewhere in the system to cause this effect but im not sure if there is a way of getting a specialist to fluid out the rack with some high pressure stuff or what but on the look out for a power steering pump in the meantime.
No my fix was the fat power steering hose coming off the bottom of the resevior. The hose used wasn't rated for ATF fluid so it broke down and collapsed onto itself. This seems to be a common problem as a friend emailed me recently asking of a possible fix, it turned out he had the same issue.