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dodge power steering pump

15 years ago

ok, son is away at school. duluth, mn avg high temp is 15f or so. no garage. 160 miles away. 2k dakota. says power steering fluid is low. added 1/2qt and is low again 1 week later. says it appears to be wet around pump. pump was changed 3yrs ago. 4.7 motor. has plastic reservoir which has o-ring. remaned pump is $100. no resv though. used assy with resv is also $100. what is the route here? he is very busy at school. no time to come home. tell him to keep adding fluid til he has time? put used assy on in duluth, outside? new pump means i have to dig up a pulley puller. and than remount resv tank. no big deal. go for it. I don't want to pay a shop $$ to do it.

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Comments (3)

jemdandy
15 years ago
It would simplify things if your son could identify exactly where the leak is. The leak may be at one of 4 places: 1) Shaft seal of the pump, 2) low pressure hose, 3) high pressure hose, and 4) the filler cap.

It could be nothing more than a loose hose clamp. But then, it could be the hose or the pump seal which would require service in a heated shop. (Its cold in Duluth right now. I live about 250 mi SE of Duluth and its too cold here to work on a vehicle our-of-doors - danger of frost bite.)

If its not a loose hose clamp, bite the bullet and have your son make a reservation with a local repair shop. From the information of this post, I assume the leak is at the pump location and not at the power steering unit. it will not heal itself and your son will have to keep adding fluid. That fluid is going somewhere and in this case, its wetting the engine compartment. The longer this goes on, the bigger the mess. Power steering fluid is a solvent for a number of automotive coatings, the paint being one.
john_g
15 years ago
We will barely mention the fact that this leaking fluid is being released to the enviroment.
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joe_mn
Original Author
15 years ago
little more info. it was a little low on thanksgiving when he was home. over christmas i flushed out the fluid and added atf4. dodge says to use atf4 now if you do a full flush. put in over a qt. i drained out fluid thru the return line and made double sure the clamp was on right. area around pump did not look wet when i did the flush. murphys law says it will break/leak after you fiddle with it. i can drive up and fix it or he can drive down. only about $20 extra in gas for his truck compared to my car. than i can use my garage.

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