the car, 96 GLE has a small leak at one or both of the small power steering tubes.

What are those tubes for and what are they called?
Are they available from auto part stores or only through dealer?

PLEASE NOTE: To access the pictures in the following link, you need to open a NEW window and copy/paste the URL. Its the only way as its free picture hosting.

you can see the wet spots in these two pictures
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/blk_g20/DSC00704.JPG
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/blk_g20/DSC00705.JPG

picture of the engine, pretty clean, need to start adding stuff to it.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/blk_g20/DSC00711.JPG

 

bump......

 

I have a small amount of power steering fluid around the same area, around where the hoses make their junctions. I do not think the problem is with the tubes but, more with the hoses. I looked them up at Courtesy Nissan's site and they were not cheap. I figure I better get some new ones before they bust all the way.

 

you are talking about those two thin hoses, right? how much do they cost?

 

Aren't those regular automatic tranmission hose? 11/32" inside diameter? You can get those from Pepboys, $10 for 4 feet. Is the hose leaking or the resevoir itself is cracked?

 

The prices are $32 dollars for the return hose, and $140 for the high pressure hose. I did a search under Maxima power steering hose. If I can use a cheaper alternative, then I will.

 

$32 + $140 = OUCH!!!

One of those two hoses goes to the fluid reservoir. The other one goes through a couple of metal tube, then to the reservoir. The pressure can't be very high or the reservoir would blow up. Besides, I thought you can open the cap while the steering pump is running.

I installed a power steering fluid cooler about 6 months ago. The cooler was attached to the two metal tubes with regular ATF hoses. If you look at where the tubes end at the radiator, you will see a short hose that loops between these metal tubes. It seems Nissan has a provision for a cooler in certain country.

 

Woa thats a lot of money for some hoses that shouldnt cost that much. The return hose is exaclty that a return hose. this one is only under very light pressure(just enought to push the fluid back into the resivor). I dont see why it costs 32$ unless its a genuine nissan part.

The high pressure hose should be noticably thicker and will have heavy fittings on both ends. But it shouldnt cost 140$. I just picked up a set for my beater saturn and they ran 17$ for the return and 25$ for the pressure.

And the reservoir wont blow up cause it just hold a supply of fluid to be fed into the pump, its never under any presure, the pump is.

 

It doesnt look like the pressure hose, although its hard to tell from the pictures. I've never really looked at the power steering system on my car. However, if it is the pressure hose, you need to buy the OEM one with the fittings. Dont ever just substitute regular hose, the pressure hose goes through very high PSI of line pressure that would cause a normal hose to rupture. The way that one looks is, it looks like a regular hose with 2 clamps holding it down. Check it out with someone and see if its just the return line, then you'll be okay to use regular power steering hose. And yes there are different kinds of hose, you shouldnt use an oil hose as a fuel line, gas eats away at certain kinds of hoses. If I'm not mistaken you should be able to use oil or ATF hose for that. Just get it checked out by someone to see.

 

The prices that I quoted were from Coutesy Nissan's website (OEM equipment). You should take it in to make sure you do not buy what is not needed, especially if they are this expensive.