*Update on Power Steering Problem*

[roadsession]

Well, the whirring noise came back from the power steering, and this morning when I started her up, there was NO power steering and a pool of power steering fluid on the ground.

Opened the hood, and couldn't find any hoses popped off anywhere from the top visual inspection....

Before I call to get it towed to the dealer, any ideas on what may have happened?

[Ron in SC]

See if you can find the source of the leak, i.e. the rack, pump, hose, resorvior. Really don't know why it's leaking.

[roadsession]

Ok, so I had the thing towed to the dealer.
The mechanic let me stand by the car while he diagnosed the leak.

I thought it was baffles, reservoir, etc...

But first he thought it was the power steering hose where it clamps to the power steering pump. But further, more careful diagnosis revealed that it was the steel pipe that connects the power steering pump that feeds the power steering RACK.

He really was great because he didn't just do the first thing that came to mind - he took the time to carefully diagnose and go over with a fine tooth comb to determine the right source.

So what he did was to disconnect the steel pipe from the steering rack (which took enormous strength because of how tight it had been connected) and there were rubber O-rings that had detoriated.

So instead of replacing the entire steering rack which would have been a $2,000 job, he traced it to those little O-rings and replaced them with Neoprene O-rings, put everything back together, and then refilled the fluid, and now everything's great.

WHAT A GUY. I think ownership of these cars/trucks is so dependent on the people working on it....

Always insist that your mechanic do careful diagnosis instead of just swapping out parts!

[Ron in SC]

Glad you got it fixed. Did they say why the problem occurred?

[roadsession]

He said that it was failure of the rubber o-rings.
He said that the probability of failure of those o-rings is small, however it happened to me :-(

I asked how on earth an o-ring could go wrong and then he reminded of the Challenger disaster in which the o-rings failed.

So however small, it happens...

He says that the company that makes the steering system is ZF (german company) and nowadays they make all the o-rings out of neoprene which has much lower failure rate.