Hello all

Went to the car today for first time in a week as been away,anyway moved it out of the garage and was greeted by a very bad sight, Power steering fluid on the floor as wide as the rack itself

Anyway got it up into the air, cleaned it all down where it had flicked up onto the block etc and noticed that one of the 4 pipes that goes into the rack as you look at it from the front of the car was loose in where it goes into the rack. Its the pipe that connects to the bottom of the power steering pump itself.

Can this pipe/fixing be replaced or is it a new rack job??? i cant quite see how the pipes fix into the rack, whether they are push fit, or rubber seal or what.

Any help and advice as always most appreciated.

Thanks
Mart

 

Where exactly is it leaking Martin? where it goes into the rack or at the pump?

If its just loose you should be able to tighten it up, but if its split then you might be lucky and Ford will have some left. The other option is to phone Pirtex etc and get them to make you one up.

 

its loose where the 4 pipes go into the rack in front of where the the column joins the UJ. I cant get a picture of it because of stuff in the way but its leaking down onto the cross member and then dripping onto the floor.

 

Hold on mate will check then phone you.

 

it could just be an o ring where they bolt in martin

 

Really? so i could fix this then if they bolt in does anybody know if the O rings are available? and how much of a job is this to do?

Ive got a rolling road day in 2 weeks time,it would be nice to have done before then

 

2 of the pipes are held in by a metal bracket,they each have a tiny o ring fitted,if the bolt that holds the bracket has come loose then they can easily leak,or it could be the o ring itself

 

the o rings are still available they are 2 sizes one for each pipe , also the metal suport plate need undoing, the 2 pipes should be a tightish fit with new o rings fitted, if they are slack then try 2 new o rings.
I change these o rings as a matter of course when changing racks

steve

 

Thanks guys. I will go to the helpful friendly ford dealers () sometime next week for availability and see if they can print me off the microcat pictures as ive no idea how it goes together or comes apart

 

the high pressure pipe to and the low pressure pipe return are held in place by one 10mm bolt
undo this and then you can lever off the securing plate and pop the pipes out

just amke sure you mark which pipes go into which holes as they are different across some of the range, not sure if this actually has any effect or not but better to be safe than sorry eh

the other 2 are screwd into the rack but from memory, it's only a cooling pipe for the ps fluid

is the car 2 or 4wd?
if it's 4wd you are looking at a lot of hassle because the diff gets in the way, but it it's 2wd then just disconnect the indermidiate shaft, undo the to rack mounts and give yourself plenty of space to move it further forwards so you can get access to everyting

it's also an idea to drain the fluid first before undoing the pipes, as it gets absolutly everywehre and is worse to clean up than normal oil

 

Thanks mate i think i'll need that advice ....yes its 4wd and the diff is a pain as you cant quite see where you need to undo . Will be trying to take this apart on friday and then order any parts from ford same day to fit saturday.

 

give me a mo and i'll take some pics

 

 

Thanks matey!!! the pics are great hope i can do this ok

 

with the 4wd rack you've got to undo the passenger side track rod end, remove both rack bolts, then the intermidiate shaft and THEN you can pull it rounds towards the drivers side, twist it a bit and then pull it out a bit

it's a right pain in the arse really it is, especially if you are unlucky enough to need to undo the alternator and power steering stuff to get the bolts out

 

Oh shit!!! thanks mate lets hope not

 

another thing to look out for it the little bulge under where the rack sits where the steering shaft comes in from the steering wheel
it's there so that you can get the rack out with the engine in situ because it gives it enough clearance

and if you are in a hurry, the first time i id it on the 4be, it took me 3 days

 

Thanks for all your help on this Dojj Im going to go and look at this again on friday morning as got the day off. Im hoping that i can just tighten it up and have done with it, but i am confused..... I drove the car around quite a lot on Saturday after finding the leak and cleaning it all up, I went to the car earlier and not a drop anywhere im baffled as to why it would have done it a week or so ago but not this week, all i did was use a few ties to limit the pipe movement into the rack

Cossies eh