Leaky PS Box :-(

Hi, it looks like the bottom seal of my power steering box above the drop arm has gone, so I was wondering which would be my cheapest option to fix the problem as its geting through quite alot of oil now.

1) Buy a new seal kit and get my local garage to fit it to my ps box.

2) buy a recon box and get the garage to fit that instead.

Cheers

Ollie

get a really cheap one for a fiver off ebay and try that.

First put a capful of DOT 4 brake fluid into the PAS filler bottle and see if that helps stem the flow. I did this to mine 2 years ago and it hasn't leaked since.

Patman1200 said:

First put a capful of DOT 4 brake fluid into the PAS filler bottle and see if that helps stem the flow. I did this to mine 2 years ago and it hasn't leaked since.

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Yeah I might try that, the pas box used to leak when i first got my 90, although after filling it up with new oil it stopped. Then just before I went off to uni in october it started leaking and it hasnt stopped since so its worth a try and im pretty sure i have some dot 4 left over from my mountain bike

How does that work by the way, does it make the seals swell slightly?? or when blended with the pas oil does it just increase the viscosity slightly??

Cheers

Ollie

Ive just had a scrounge on the bay and came accross "lucas stop leak products" has anyone had any experience with these as they also do a stop leak pas additive, although it does cost around the same price as a seal kit.

that stuff does the same as a little brake fluid.

how does the brake fluid stop it leaking

i once used the wynns pump seal recondition stuff and it reduced a leaking steering box, to satisfy complaints on the works driveway,(i think it worked by reviving the rubber seals, perhaps softening and lubricating them, so they'd swell a bit? i don't know for sure)it didn;t last though and eventually the steering box became an mot failure point, i replaced it with a recon box, i found it a pretty straightforward job, but i do remember bending out an inner wing on the car to get spanner access.
i'd be interested to hear how you get on, the same thing is beginning to occur on my 300tdi disco, and this was first apparent in a recent cold snap, when a slight weeping became an all out sudden leak. this may have been the seals shrinking in the cold weather, i topped it up with handbook spec fluid and have had no problem since.

I tried the Slick 50 PAS stopleak additive and it didn't work. I added a cap of DOT4 and it's been dry ever since. DOT3 and 4 make the rubbers swell. Whether this alters the life of the rubber I don't know, but 2 years and no leaks.

gotoneatlast said:

this was first apparent in a recent cold snap, when a slight weeping became an all out sudden leak. this may have been the seals shrinking in the cold weather, i topped it up with handbook spec fluid and have had no problem since.

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This happened to me a while back, and as happened to you my 90's now going through quite alot of oil, I'll see if my mate's still got my dot 4 and give the cheaper option a go before going down the lucas/garage route.

Ollie

i used wynns stop leak in my engine and it worked really well, but in the end the crank nose grabbed the seal and spun it around in the housing. Didn seal too well then...

After putting just over a capful of Dot4 into the pas resivoir a couple of days ago, it looks as though the leak isnt as bad as its still pretty full (touch wood). Although I cant really tell too well as my garage floor is covered in oil from an old tractor and i managed to drive over my drip container whilst returning in the early hours this morning!

Ollie

i tried the stop leak stuff , it didn`t work . ended up replacing the box for a recon one .manky job but quite easy . had to geta new hose made up though as the two fittings on the top were a different size .

Sorry to dig up a slightly old thread, but better than starting a new one with the same problem I guess

Mine started as hardly even a weep, then all of a sudden yesterday I noticed a patch on the floor under the very front of the landy, so I had a look underneath - PAS fluid all over the chassis leg, part of the steering shaft, inner wing and steering guard.
Seems like a pretty serious leak but I drove it about 12 miles like it and the fluid only went down a couple of mm on the dipstick level which isn't as bad as others have reported (****ing it all out in 15 mins).

olmasters - did adding the DOT4 help in the end? Or have you ended up with a new/recon box?

you need a bottom seal kit by the sounds of it, they are less than £7 delivered to your door

I've looked for a bottom seal kit but there only seems to be one kit on Paddocks - STC2847R Seal repair kit for power steering box

If the drop arm is as much of a PITA to get off as people make it out to be, then aren't I either better off with a recon box or at least this:
QFW000020 Drop arm and kit for PAS box - RHD to JA621323
I assume that kit comes with a bottom seal as it's a kit but I haven't checked yet.
That way I could cut the bastard off, reseal, then put a spankin' new one on.

pssst read my sig

To be honest i didnt notice much difference to be honest, it might work for small leaks but by the time i took my defender to the garage it would dump a litre of oil on the floor in about 40 mins. Drop arm seal was the problem, but got the whole seal kit fitted now, and the responsivness of the steering seems better too.

Ollie

ahh i see lol
I'm gonna give the brake fluid a go out of interest but if it doesn't work I'll give you a shout.
Seems though, if I'm gonna take it off and reseal it, I may as well reseal everything as it's weeping out by the steering column input and on top in a couple' places.
Depends on how much of a PITA it is really.
Can't really afford to have it off the road for any length of time so whatever I do needs to be do-able within a day or weekend at most.

How long did it take you ollie? Or did the garage do it?

Ive gotta admit i did take it to the garage, although i had the bellhousing gasket replaced at the same time as the complete seal kit so cant say for sure on time for the pas box as the whole thing was over a few days. Plus the bill wasnt itemised either, but it was around £350 or something, out of that i wouldnt think the pas box would be too significant.

Ollie