I says I been leakin fluid all over, so I takes a look under der and darned if der's not pauer steerin fluid all over the hoses. How many ya'll done had a leak fore? I says I don't wanna replace nothin' I don't have to.

But seriously, seems I have maybe a couple leaks. I'll run the leak test from the FSM tomorrow. The high pressure hose does look to be at least partially to blame, there is fluid pooled up on the top of the RH control arm, basically direcly underneath, and the hose is wet with fluid up around the top of it. I've been leaking a small amount from the rack for awhile now, LH side, But I think the kicker is the hose. Fill it up, and 40 or so miles later the pump is groaning again. If anyone has any experience and where the leak(s) were coming from, I'd like to hear it. Although it will probably be apparent once I do the test.

 

No clue, I really haven't ever had any big leaks like that on my 3rd gens. Are you not able to clean all the fluid off and then drive it some and re-check to locate the leak? I guess that would be pointless if you are doing an actual leak test.

On the subject of power steering though I have a question. What's the secret to fully bleeding the power steering? On both of my VE's I can't seem to get rid of that whine sound like when it needs to bled some more. I know the pumps aren't bad because this is with new pumps even. I've bled them both incessantly and still can't get rid of the whine. One has an aftermarket high pressure hose and the other has an OEM, but both still have the whine. What's the secret I'm missing? I run Dexron ATF in both. I'm about to try synthetic Dexron when I put my turbo VE back together here over the next few days

 

As expected the leak was coming from the crimp at the top of the high pressure hose when the wheels were locked to either side. Not going to be fun to replace due that dreaded passenger side axle being directly under the nut I need to access. Hopefully the pump itself is removable without pulling the axle. I'm going to go to the yard and see if that's the case. If so, I end up with a free replacement hose as well.

The bleeding procedure in the manual states to go from lock position to lock position several times with the wheels off of the ground. Course, you might just have small leaks in the system allowing air in.

 

Actually, I can probably just remove the bolt for the joint that connects to the pump (49170MA), instead of the 24mm one at the end of the joint, above the axle, that the hose bolts up to..

 

Yep that's what I typically do

 

Well that's what I did. Got the hose out in a matter of minutes, I had four 3rd gens to choose from so I picked one that had the best looking hose. Looked like it had a remanufactured pump on it as well, I took a few of the bolts out, but the one up top is hiding pretty well so I just left it. With the right tools and some more time I think the pump can come out without pulling the axle..

Least I got the hose. And some working hood struts

 

Yo James, after replacing my hose, I noticed the pump was a lot louder when turning the wheel. It might just be that I didn't bleed it enough, but I think it could also be due to the more restrictive metal fitting at the end of the hose. The stock one looks roughly twice to 1/3 the diameter as the aftermarket replacement. So if that is the reason, it might be for you as well. Of course you never mentioned if you replaced your high pressure hose or not, so that's a guess.

I'll think I'll replace it again eventually because of this, preferably with an OEM one. For now, at least the leak is fixed.