cbs_24

My wife and I had a baby 2 weeks ago, so my Jeep has been sitting the whole time till I drove to work yesterday. I experienced some incredibly loud whining when turning on my way to work. I checked the fluid level and the power steering reservoir was completely empty. I immediately filled it up with fluid. I checked the level again today and the reservoir is almost empty again and there was a big puddle in the parking lot under the car. My Jeep has 200,000 miles on it, so I guess the steering pump going bad around this time isn't crazy. My question is should I try and investigate the leak or just go ahead and buy a new pump, hoses and pulley? I've had to replace the entire cooling system and the intake manifold within the last 5000 miles, so its possible I could have helped contribute to the power steering system's demise during those repairs.

Doogluus88

Congrats on the baby!

Definitely get in there and investigate. It's really up to you and how much money you want to spend. I just replaced my power steering hoses and pump about 8 months ago. I bought all the parts from Rockauto.com. The whole kit costs about $100 before tax and shipping. Of course you'll need to buy some p/s fluid too...

Also, you shouldn't have to replace the pulley unless its in really bad shape. Just rent a p/s pump pulley puller from autozone and reuse your old pulley.

ehall

Why wouldn't you look for the leak?

cbs_24

Between my newborn, three year old, wife recovering from a c-section and my active duty military commitment, I don't have much time to do anything. If someone was able to read my description and say it clearly sounds like a bad pump, why would I mess with tracking down the leak? Its pretty obviously coming from the pump, I just wasn't sure if it was worth the effort to find out more specifically where. Like I said in the first post, with 200,000 miles on the Jeep, I'm getting pretty used to having to throw new parts at it by now.

Bugout4x4

I agree with Ehall below. It is probably only the low pressure return hose leaking, this is common on all makes after several years of engine compartment heat exposure and vibration. This hose returns back into the bottom of the pump reservoir tank and would indeed leak all the fluid out until empty. If so then it is just a couple dollars worth of "high temp" Power Steering/Trans hose and two clamps. Really no reason to replace everything unless the pump is whining even after it is full.

cbs_24

The whining completely disappeared after I refilled the reservoir. Whats the easiest way to verify? Crank it up and have someone turn the wheel back and forth?

Bugout4x4

A slight whirring sound would still be normal after all the air is worked out of the system while someone is turning it back and forth. If the whining completely disappeared then it sounds like the pump is fine unless it is leaking from where the reservoir attaches to the back of the pump. Kits for these are also cheap from your local parts store to seal up a pump to reservoir tank leak.


It would be worth a few minutes to hose it off good and try to see where it is leaking for sure, Bet it's just the return hose.