Hey,
Last friday my maxima drained all its power steering fluid onto the garage floor of the university that i go to. When i got home, i opened the hood to find a nice mess on the drivers-side of the engine compartment. P/S fluid everywhere on that side of the engine bay, and none on the passenger-side of the engine bay. So I drive my RX-7 to work and the such this weekend, and now finally get a chance to look at my problem more closely.
The location where the two p/s lines meet at the rack is extremely messy and wet with p/s fluid. I cleaned up the hard lines, and the soft hose (im guessing this is the high preasure hose?), and still cant find any cracks. The soft hose does, however, move around quite easily.

I know this is very vague, and without being here it would be hard to diagnose, but what do you think is the problem? Is the high preasure hose kaput? Is my steering rack kaput? OR, did my powersteering pump not work real well, and cause a huge amount of preasure in that high preasure line which then caused the line to bust?

Hmm, i was just going to cut the power steering pump belt and go on my way, but i realized that the same belt also drove the water-pump.

Help please?
Tyler

 

hmm, ive been reading some of the other topics, and it seems that the high preasure hose does not even go to the drivers-side of the engine-bay....hmm, this is starting to worry me.

 

All the power steering hoses run on the passenger side. Are you sure that the fluid leaking was p/s? Is your pump making that whining sound when driven?

 

It turned out to be the rubber hose return line directly from the rack and pinion itself. Had a small crack in it, so i ghetto fixed it, and its working great now .

 

be sure to use hose that's rated for hydraulic fluid. coolant hose (that most parts stores sell) will last about 6 months before the fluid eats through it and you're right back where you were.

 

Trans line or power steering return hose line is acceptable

 

will do, thanks guys!