scrappydog

I seem to have a small amount of powersteering fluid leaking out under the powersteering resevoir. It just seems to keep the areas a little damp and smells a bit - but not enough to make the level drop significantly over time. Is this likely to be just the resevior leaking or the actual powersteerng pump? Should I just be replacing the resevior O-ring?

Any advice?

Andy

Needa_Scooby

This happened to my mums *cough cough* Legacy. She just took it into the local subaru dealer and they sorted it for about a fiver i think.
Hope that is a small bit of help.

scrappydog

Needa - I've already taken my car to local dealer and they tightened up a few of the pipes and said that if it continued to leak then they'd need to put a new powersteering pump on. Unfortuntately this is a little more than a fiver!

Andy

Andrew Timmins

I was told a new pump would be needed too. So I went to Halfords and got some gasket sealent, think it was a non-setting type, in a squeezable black container with blue trim. I siphoned out the fluid then took the resovoir off. The O ring was in poor condition so refitted it with liberal helpings of the gasket sealent. This is going back a couple of years and I've had no leaks since.

scrappydog

Andrew,

sounds just the job! Any ideas how to siphon off safely without swallowing power steering fluid *yuk*? Alternatively, is there a drain point for the stuff?

Andy

Andrew Timmins

I sucked the fluid into a clear plastic pipe then let it drain out into a jam jar, just keep repeating this till you can't get any more out. It takes about 10 minutes. After that just unbolt the resovoir and take it off.

My car is a 1995 model, I believe later ones have a different layout but the principle should be the same.

scrappydog

Andrew,

thanks for the info. Have been down to Halfords to get some gasket sealant and will try the same tomorrow. Mine's a UK 95 model so the resevior assembly is as described.

Cheers m8,

Andy

blitz imp reza

Had same problem on mine. went to subaru dealer and ordered new o rings only cost a few quid.came in the post a few days later, job done. It is more than likely the o ring thats seals the resevoir bowl to the pump. There is one in the back case of the pump, if this one is ok leave well alone (risk of getting muck in the pump).

Andrew Timmins

Thats right Blitz, but even after changing the O rings I still had a leak. They wanted to change the pump even though the leak was from the join between the pump and resovoir. Thats why I added some gasket sealent round the O ring to stop any more fluid coming out.

tweenierob

I really need to sort mine out, after reading this i am gonna get new seals and some sealer and finally do it this weekend...
Rob

scrappydog

Sounds like I might need some new o-rings. Anyone know what the part No. is for the o-rings? Or can I just get some std ones from Halfords?

Andy

blitz imp reza

You could probably measure up the old o ring remembering that it might be distorted a bit. best to size up the thickness of the o ring a bit to make sure of a good tight seal.
And replace with one from a hardware shop or wherever should be cheep like the budgie, pennys not pounds.
Sounds like some of the oe subaru o rings may be a bit on the small size hence not sealing properly? mine seams ok though?
I got mine from subaru because I only have the one car and could not be bothered to drain fluid take apart measure up put back together get o ring and do it all again, lazy git LOL.

Leslie

I had the same leak problem and found it was the reservoir itself leaking on my MY94 STI1. I removed the reservoir after the syphoning saga and found the leak was from the seal where the top and bottom halves of the reservoir are joined. I unstaked the two halves and after a good wash I remade the joint which has a large O ring,and staked the two halves together again. I used good gasket jointing compound. This has cured it but it is a long irritating job. A new reservoir it probably the answer if that is where the leak is.

Felix.

On mine, there is a small piece of rubber hose which joins the metal pipe coming from the top of the resevoir to the rest of the metal pipework. This had split on mine and was replaced - job sorted, i think I also replaced the o-ring at the bottom of the resevoir as well - no more leaks.

I took the fluid out by using a syringe from boots (the kiddies medicine ones). Found it really quick to do