QuakerJ

My '96 Maxima has been leaking every fluid possible, I've finally decided to dig into it and fix them. I think I've gotten the coolant, transmission fluid and oil leaks narrowed down and soon to be repaired but the power steering has me flummoxed.

I have the axles off the car, passenger side suspension, crossmember, intake manifold, all sorts of stuff out of the way so I'm able to get a pretty good look at it. The power steering pump itself and all hoses around it are covered in fluid making it near impossible to tell exactly what component is leaking, whether it be hoses, a seal or the pump itself. I don't see anything else in the area that would coat the power steering components in that amount of fluid, so I have to assume it's something related to the power steering. So my hunch is to replace the pressure and return hoses and possibly the pump itself for good measure.

Problem is, I can't find a return hose, Rockauto only lists the pressure hose. Can anyone help? Is there a certain component in this area that is known for leaking? I don't mind replacing stuff prophylacticly if it means I won't have to go in there again to chase down something I missed. The hoses I'm seeing appear to run from the pressure switch to the pump, and then a hose from the reservoir to the pump. Is it logical to replace both hoses and pump, or are there other things I should be checking? Is the pump itself known for leaking?

Any input at all would be greatly appreciated!

Cleaning the fluid off and watching for leaks isn't really an option at this point as I have everything so far torn down... And it wasn't really an option to begin with because you can't really see into the power steering area without removing a whole bunch of stuff, at least I wasn't able to.

JvG

Auto repair places sell leak detector kits.
They have a dye which glows under ultra violet light.

the kit also has special glasses and an ultra violet light source.

I used something like this perhaps 20 years ago.

QuakerJ

I'm beyond that, not really interested in where the leak is coming from, going to replace the hoses and pump and anything in that area that could be the source of the leak. There's no point in leak testing, I already have the car half torn apart, I'm not going back to do it a second time.

I've been working on cars for 20 years (admittedly, not a professional) and I've never encountered anything so frustrating as removing the power steering pump on this car. Why on Earth did Nissan feel the need to bury the thing back in there? My hats off to anyone who does this job without removing the axles, strut and everything else in the way. I have all that off the car, along with crank pulley and some other crap and it's still a living nightmare! Doesn't help that there's what looks like a 55 gallon drum of oil spread across every surface of the engine. Ugh, my apologies for the rant!

I guess my questions are:

A) what other components are near the pump that I should replace? -- on my list currently are pump, return and pressure hose.

B) I'm after the two hoses that connect to the pump, correct? I assume one is pressure and one is return hose. Rockauto shows a return hose but it's a tiny elbow, which looks nothing like either hose attached to my pump. Can someone help me locate a replacement part for the return hose? Or describe how the one on Rockauto actually fits, because it doesn't seem like that's the correct one.

C) How do I get the power steering pump out? I've unbolted two small 14mm bolts from the front (which I could only access by removing the pulley) along with one long 14mm bolt from the rear. I assumed the pump would sort of just fall off at that point, but it's being held between two ears (one cast into the engine block, the other on what looks like the timing cover), there looks to be a metal bushing running through those ears that the long bolt goes through. How do I get that bushing out or is there some other trick?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions / help / tips, etc.

Scottkastelic100

Here is what you need

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Return lines aren't under pressure like the pump and high pressure hose.

I've seen plenty of pumps and high pressure hoses leak but NEVER a return line.

So.... Rebuild or replace the pump and high pressure hose and call it a day, i'm willing to bet it's one of those two.

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

I ordered my Power steering line from Nissanpartsdeal.com. ordered the pump itself from Amazon and had the parts put in. No more leaks.