It does need some rust repair for sure!

 

Oh wow,I have never seen a van rust there.good luck brother.

 

I am so disappointed..
It only has 260,000 Michigan salt miles.

The welder is getting a workout.

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OK, I am officially annoyed.
I replaced all of the hoses, and the power steering pump.

Weeks later, the leak is back, smaller but still there.

It is NOT the steering gearbox.

(LIGHT BULB)
It must be the power steering cooler.
OK, now I need to remove and pressure test it to find the leak.
50/50 odds it is corrosion or road debris damage.


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i'm almost positive what the problem is ..... ... been there done that ... the IPR valve rubber / seal is bad and when cold it wil start if your lucky ( holding pressure ) when it gets warm it wont hold pressure, no pressure, no fire ...... needs to generate up to 3800 psi to fire injectors .... if the damn wiring & fuel filter body wasnt in the way it would take about 15 mins to replace a 5.00 part .... but i needed to pull the fuel filter bowel out to get ate big bolt on back of HPOP ..;... screws out replace seal screw back in ...voila

 

Only needs 500 psi to fire injectors.

 

I replaced those 08-26-2011 post# 37.

For various reasons, it only has a few thousand miles since the seals where replaced.


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I replaced the power steering cooler.

Tested the old cooler to 100 PSI air (under water) with no leak.

Stuck the old cooler in a vice loaded with oil and capped, next day my drain pan has most of the oil, and the cooler is almost empty.
Out of curiosity I may waste more time later locating this phantom leak on the failed part.


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There is still a leak in the power steering.

At this point, I plan to remove the total system again, including the steering gearbox for individual bench testing.
My best estimation is three days for removal, fabricating, testing, diagnosis.

This is the most interesting and frustrating passive leak I have dealt with in many years that has become a personal / professional challenge.

I may pickup / install a complete (low mile) replacement system from the salvage yard, to keep the van on the road.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one to have sttuff like this happen to...i hope you get it soon...i don't have that much hair...

 

This vehicle was sold last month.


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