Harry Crocker

My wife has a 2004 that has started to leak power steering fluid from somewhere. Luckily, I haven't had to do much work on the car since she purchased it (8 years ago). I'm not sure how the system works as I've never dealt with these before. I've noticed by the top (where you put in the fluid) seems to be a little "wet" but I'm not sure if that is where it is coming from or not. Any advice before I dig into it how these systems work or where they generally fail? At first it seemed to be a slow leak but it has progressively gotten worse. I haven't really tried to diagnose it as of yet (planning on digging into that today) but it seems as though it may even leak sitting still in the garage. There's for sure a large spot where it has leaked the past few weeks but I've been fighting fixing it due to life being in the way. I've finally found some time and would like to address it. New to the forum and would like to hear any advice you guys / gals may have. Any advice is appreciated in advance! Thanks!

kevinkpk

Could be the resivoir, pressure line, or return line. You're going to have to physically track down the lines.

oldchevy

If you are lucky it is one of the lines. The worst possible problem would be the rack and pinion. This is the most expensive and the biggest job to replace. You will have to dig in and find the leak first.

Harry Crocker

Okay so I found what was going on but I’m going to need some guidance. Not real familiar with this type of problem. I assume it’s the worst part since it’s not a line. It’s the bottom of the cylinder shaped objects at the rack and pinion. It looks like the bottom cap (not sure what it’s called) of that cylinder has fallen loose. Not sure how it is held in place.


From underneath

Harry Crocker

Bottom cap is totally loose.