Folks:

I have 1993 Maxima(SOHC). I have noticed that my car is leaking the power steering fluid and the high pressure line/hose near the firewall is all covered in the fluid. On close inspection, I noticed that the line/hose has developed a crack near the end where it connects to switch. I have following questions.

1. Is replacing the line, the only solution. Since the crack is very thin, is there any kinda adhesive/glue that may be used to fix the problem. Any suggestions?

2. How difficult/easy is replacing this high pressure line? I have replaced the fuel filter, PCV valve and coolant temp. sensor on my car. Is the difficulty level similar?

3. Is there any procedure listed out for replacing the line. I have Haynes and I could not find the procedure in it. I will highly appreciate if someone could give me some helpful pointers on it.

Thanks a bunch.

 

search for "steering hose" and you'll find tons of info on it. I know because I was in this situation not too long ago

it's a very simple replacement, undo bolt on lower end of hose and let fluid drain out, then undo bolt at upper end (behind the shock tower) then put the new one in and bolt it up - use new copper washers if you can. The hose I bought from PepBoys came with new ones and it cost $40 something I think. Just pay attention to where the hose goes before you take it out and then put it back in the same way. I found it easier to put on the lower bolt first and then twist the hose a little to get the upper one to line up correctly.

The bolts (on my 93SE VE30DE) were 15/16" or 24mm - either worked fine for me. Those bolts should be torqued to 36-51 ft-lb.

 

Thanks a lot for the helpful information.

I was wondering if it is possible to undo the bolt at the lower end without going under the car. I read that many people have had problems in undoing the lower bolt.

Also, do we need any special wrench to undo the upper bolt.

Thanks again.

 

I doubt that you can undo the lower bolt without going under the car. You dont necessarily have to jack up the car so you can just get under it while it's on teh ground and probably get that bolt off. Its on fairly tight so it'll take some leverage to get it off. I didn't have much trouble getting it off. On my car (not sure if SOHC is the same), there wasn't much room between that lower bolt and the power steering rack boots, but I was able to squeeze a socket and ratchet in there and pull it off.
Upper and lower bolts were same size so you just need a wrench or socket for both.

 

theres very little room on the VG too. the bolt is on there really really tight. i didn't try this but spraying some liquid wrench or wd40 might help.

 

I actually had to use an impact wrench on mine the bolts were frozen so tightly. the top one, I beat and pulled and wrenched on it until I almost had the bracket ripped off. then I got out the impact wrench, clamped the bracket with some pliers, and zapped it with the impact wrench. came right off..

 

sure it can be done for the technically challanged, I did it for my 91 max back in 97. The top bolt only took a minute, the bottom bolt took 3 hours....yes its a tight fit down there and the threads are really fine. Be patient and go slow.

Stephen

 

how'd you fit an impact wrench down there? is there more room on the ve than the vg?