Hey All, I had an explosion of my power steering fluid all over the engine compartment of my 98 XJ. The car started making some noise earlier in the week which seemed to increase with RPM. So I figured it was something along the belt but wasn't having any issues so was hoping to make it to the weekend to check it out. Friday night on the way out it started making the noise much worse with turning, then on the way home s*** hit the fan. By the time the car got home I could barley get it in the spot because the power steering was completely out. Popped the hood and power steering fluid was EVERYWHERE. I was planning on replacing the pump today but wanted to make sure I was on the right track and there aren't other common issues to check out. Thanks for any input.

 

check your hoses

 

Do you think it is most likely a hose not the pump itself? There is just no way of knowing where the leak is coming from right now because so much fluid got sprayed everywhere...

 

Add some fluid and start it up. The leak should be pretty obvious.