Repair-It

This is a common one. I think it has been leaking on and off for years now. It's been wet the entire time we've owned it. A couple months back, it lost enough fluid for the P/S pump to whine. It's just a matter of time really. I know I need to replace both of these short hoses. I am NOT sure what size they are but I think I will just buy bulk hose and cut to length. And I guess to find the right size I will have to pull them and take them into a store to match up. So this will be a $10 fix.

Apparently also where the rusty steel bracket holds the aluminum lines, the lines can actually pit enough to start leaking. The fix I guess is to remove the bracket, slide the hose further up, and hose clamp. I don't know what happens to the bracket then. Adjust? Throw away? These lines go to the P/S cooler so it is the low pressure side.

Here is a pic from a guy with a V6.

Finally ordered a quart of GM P/S fluid. I need to put this on my shorter list to get done, at least before our August vacation to NH.

It really hasn't lost more fluid but it still needs to be done. I still don't know what size those hoses are. 5/16"?

Ordered a 3 foot section of Gates power steering return hose in 3/8". Hope that is the right size otherwise I'll have to run out. The internet says to use power steering hose, not general fuel hose. Surprised me but maybe the fluid softens it (but gas doesn't???).

Took care of this already.

Here are some before shots after removing the underbelly panel. Nice and wet. Again these are low pressure power steering cooler lines. Everything looked dry upstream and downstream from this area so I guess this is where the issue is, as I thought before, and as is typical for these vehicles. FWIW, this is driver's side under the radiator area. So I'm not exactly sure what is leaking. I am not sure if the hose is leaking. The common issue is where the bracket holds the lines with the rubber isolators, it causes the aluminum line to pit and corrode and then it gets pinhole leaks. I cleaned it off and while it did look somewhat pitted I started the engine and did not see anything coming out of the area. Maybe it was just the hoses weeping. So I elected to replace the hoses as well as do the trick where you slide the new hose further up the aluminum line past the crappy area.

So I disconnected everything and let it drain. The fluid looked alright thankfully since 4 years ago the original P/S pump gave up and I am not sure I was able to get out 100% of the old crappy fluid. Seeing as we are going back to NH 4 years later, I elected to fix this since it seems guaranteed to fail on our trip if I ignore it, all that highway driving (with some traffic) in the heat.

I reused the old spring clamps. I cut a little more hose than original since I was going to slide it further up the pipe. Also happily, I guessed correctly on the size. 3/8" is correct.

The only hurdle was to figure out the bracket. I wonder if most people just get rid of it and let the lines sort of bounce around. I didn't like that. What I ended up doing was removing the rubber isolators, bent the upper bracket, and just clamped it directly on the new hose. This looks like it will work just fine. You can sort of see where the original barb is on the left hose. I pushed it way on there. This serves a double purpose of preventing the hose from slipping off the line, but I it took a bit of effort to push on in the first place I have full confidence it will be fine like this. With that done I filled up the fluid, jacked the car up and bled the system. Which is just turning the steering wheel back and forth like 20-40 times. Then again with it running. I checked for leaks and saw nothing but I didn't really catch it leaking before. I would think this will have fixed it.

Jamie road tested it and said all was well - proper assist, no vibration or whining. I will check the level and probably drive it myself to be sure.

Pretty easy and cheap fix.