HELP please ! stuck in portugal

Post by **Big Boris** » 18 Sep 2016, 18:22

Hi all ,we are in Portugal on a bit of a European tour and we have been loosing power steering fluid ,I got under van and it is coming from passenger side wheel when I took of the rubber gator at end of pushrod it poured out it has obviously been leaking where the ram goes in and out I'm not a mechanic but I can only guess it's a seal that's gone ? Can someone give us any advice please as we still have a few weeks left out here so will need it sorted ,is it a big job ?have been topping it up but can't keep doing this
Thanks

Post by **clift_d** » 18 Sep 2016, 20:24

There's probably nothing you can do if the rack is leaking that doesn't involve either getting it replaced or rebuilt. If you have a separate auxiliary belt to the power steering pump then I'd just remove that and run your van as manual steering until you can get back. That way you don't risk the pump running dry which hopefully means that it will be okay when you get the rack sorted.

Post by **Big Boris** » 18 Sep 2016, 22:44

Thanks for your advice ,it's a 1.6td c1989 California sorry for my ignorance but do you mean I should remove the belt from the power steering pump ? Or should I just keep topping it up even if it costs a few quid just to get us around?

Post by **clift_d** » 18 Sep 2016, 22:53

It's up to you really.

If you think that you can keep it topped up then by all means go with that, but the risk is the pump, which will apparently suffer if the rack dumps a lot of fluid and it is allowed to run dry.

Our rack has similar issues with leaking which means it will need to be rebuilt or replaced. Due to limited funds we can't justify doing it right now, and so we've been running for a number of months now without power steering and the belt removed.

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