power steering leak causing CKP to have a fit?

[SuperHO]

so the 98's leaking something which as far as I can tell is power steering fluid. It's dripping on the exhaust causing smoke while driving, but not a huge cloud, so it's not a strong leak.

anyway, the damn thing had to be towed today due to a bad miss, sputter cough and die condition. Got it home, checked fuel pressure (which it still had after repeated start attempts) then pulled the crank sensor to find it pretty drippy with power steering fluid. Cleaned it off, reinstalled it, and the car ran splendidly...until later tonight when it started hard, sputtered, and tried to die. Every time it hiccuped, the tach bounced rather violently, similar to when a V6 loses it's cam or crank sensor. While it was still running fine, I went to Advance Auto and had codes read. Nothing but SAI and a tranny range sensor code likely caused by the faulty ABS module the car's currently suffering from.

so I've gotta track down this leak...what're my likely suspects?

 

[SuperHO]

anybody? C'mon, people...i know SOMEone's gotta have some input here, even if it's just a dirty limerick. ..

 

[stephen newberg]

I was trying to remember if I have ever read here of a leak from the power steering and I do not think I have. Did you look about over on V8SHO.com in the care and feeding section?

pax, smn

 

[BamSHO]

Im going to take a guess and say yes. Mine leaked and did have some miss issues. I now dont have a leaking pump, but now have a whine, this is the 3rd pump.



Brian Michael
98 silver Gen3

 

[SuperHO]

okay, well it turns out the belt rubbed through the CKP wiring, which very likely is the cause of the sputtering/coughing/dying/no-start condition. Still can't find the leak, though. It's definitely on the front side of the engine, but I can't seem to find where it's coming from.

 

[SHOZ123]

The fitting that comes out of the pump is a POS. Inside the banjo like fitting is some rubber fitting that has to sit just right or it will leak. I replaced mine with a hose ****** and some hydraulic hose.

 

[SuperHO]

can that fitting be accessed without removing the pump? If not, how does that damn thing come off? I pulled the intake last night to poke around some and couldn't make heads or tales from that flustercuck back there. Got any pics of what you did?

 

[SHOZ123]

I think it can. It's been a while. You take the banjo fitting off. There's a big bolt head you take out and then it all falls apart.

Here's the pump and the fitting I am talking about.



I just tapped the banjo fitting with a 3/8" npt tap and screwed in the hose ******, no drilling required. Then used some hydraulic hose and a hose clamp to secure it there. Cut the steel line as it goes down behind the engine and used a compression fitting to connect the new line to the old.

 

[SuperHO]

heheheh...you said screw and ****** in the same sentence.

in that last pic...what's all the shiny shit and spring and stuff?

 

[SHOZ123]

That's the guts of the pump. The thing standing ***** next to the banjo bolt fitting is the "bolt". It sits in some sort of a flex fitting when it screws into the pump and is a POS.