Currently working on my Maxima, a 6th gen 04, and it’s having power steering issues. It’s a salvage title, and was missing a power steering fluid cooler for an unknown amount of time by the previous owner. So far we have only pressure tested 1/2 of the possible leaking hoses. Does anyone know if the pump is damaged and will need to be replaced, and what the difficulty of doing that would be?

 

Is the system losing a noticeable amount of fluid from the reservoir? you should be able to tell if it's leaking anything by the amount in the reservoir diminishing over time.

I had to have the rack and pinion replaced because it was leaking and also the high pressure hose was leaking and they replaced the pump at the same time. These are fairly advanced repairs. Not much room to get in there.

Have you tried bleeding all the air from the system? That can cause various noises and make it feel like the power steering is cutting out around a corner because it hits a pocket of air.

 

Well we’ve got replacements for both of the high pressure hoses, and we may end up having to replace the reservoir as well. The guys that inspected it said it was a rack and pinion leak, and it started as a slow leak, but now it’s pretty bad. It has the issue where it’s very choppy, I believe you said that relates to air bubbles?
Anyways, I’m not exactly sure what rack and pinion is, as I just thought it was the pump, the hoses, and the arms that made up the entire configuration. We also have just purchased a cooler, and all of these new parts will be going on hopefully tomorrow.

 

I’ve had power steering issues on my 6th gen max 05 only thing was the old owner had put a zip tie on the hose connecting to the reservoir instead of a c clamp ... every turn it poured out I used to refill it daily before I pinpointed the leak

 

We’ve discovered the leaking hose, and have replaced it. It was difficult, and required the purchase of a thread die set, as the threads on the hose and where it bolted into where messed up. But at this point all power steering issues with the vehicle are resolved, which is a relief.