Slightly Leaky Steering Rack - Any "snake oil" work on the leak?

[dinanm3atl]

So once every week I have to fill up the power steering fluid once a week. I daily the car. So it gets plenty of turning and plenty of driving. It leaks right after you turn it off and it sits. Only on the driver side.

So anyone used any of the anti-leak/stop leak stuff. I would prefer since it is costing me barely anything and I have more pressing issues to not put in a new rack right now.

Anything work?

[E30 Cabrio]

Mine is doing the same thing. It will only get worse, and the fluid will eat away at your rubber suspension bushings and you'll end up with a squeaky and sloppy suspension.

You can get a used rack for about $100.00 with a 6 month warranty, but it is somewhat labor intensive from what I understand and special tools are required.

A rebuilt is about $300.00+

Either way, this is not something I would put off as the leaking fluid will as mentioned eat away your rubber bushings.

You can try some Transmission Stop Leak, but it may do more harm than good.

[bimmer8604]

is it the rack or the lines?

my bet is its the high pressure line from the pump to the rack.

might want to double check. you may even get lucky and just have to put new crush washers on the lines where the bolt to the pump/rack.

kyle

[Jordan]

On my wifes old e30 the steering rack was just about shot. I was going to swap a good used one in, and in the meanwhile I decided to put a quart of ATF Stopleak in. It was loosing about 1qt/2days out of the drivers side end seal. I was amazed when the stopleak cut it down to less then a quart every other month. Never did end up replacing the rack.

[dinanm3atl]

On my wifes old e30 the steering rack was just about shot. I was going to swap a good used one in, and in the meanwhile I decided to put a quart of ATF Stopleak in. It was loosing about 1qt/2days out of the drivers side end seal. I was amazed when the stopleak cut it down to less then a quart every other month. Never did end up replacing the rack.

Jordan.

Do you know what you used? Would be excellent! Like Lucas Automatic transmissions stop leak? Or Lucas power steering stopleak?

is it the rack or the lines?

my bet is its the high pressure line from the pump to the rack.

might want to double check. you may even get lucky and just have to put new crush washers on the lines where the bolt to the pump/rack.

kyle

Can you elaborate. The fluid from what I can tell comes from the area where the steering input is... which like you said is high pressure line I believe... Haven't looked too in depth on this car :)

It is not coming from out the boots. Maybe a part number from real oem :)

[bimmer8604]

The best way to check is to put the car up in the air and get some brake clean to clean everything off. then either start up the car - while up in the air, and move the wheels a bit. u should then beable to tell where the fluid is leaking from aka the lines or the rack. Its a good sign that your boots aren't full of fluid, but that doesnt meant the rack is leaking from somewhere else. Mine leaks really bad, as in I can see in my parking lot at work or the apartment everywhere my car has been heh. I add fluid atleast once a week if not more. I put my car up on a lift at work and cleaned and could see the fluid pissing out of one of the crimped connections on the high pressure hose.

You can def. do this in your drive way with some jack stands and a few cans of brake clean and spare rags. it may even help to pull off your drivers side wheel while up in the air.

hope that helps!

Kyle

[dinanm3atl]

Cool. So in your case you need a new hose?

Thanks

[bimmer8604]

yup, the fluid is comin out of the crimped portion on the hose. the power steering hoses are rubber, but the banjo fittings are crimped on. Just an FYI you WILL want to get new crush washers if you replace the rack and/or lines. I'm not sure what size they are off the top of my head but before you put it back together you'll want to take the old ones either to a parts store or the dealer to get new ones. they arent that expensive.

kyle

[Mr.sexymorningvoice]

well my car sat for the longest time, and dried up. Then i went to driving quite a bit, and it started leaking. Like a quart about every2 weeks, i dumped in some lucas power steering stop leak, that helped a lot, then i tried some of the trans-x stop leak made for powersteering and tranny's in the blue bottle, with the lucas. I went through 2 bottles of lucas, and one can of trans-x

now it is slowed significantly, and still works great, i dont even add half a quart a month now

[ptownTSI]

where is the leak coming from, if its from the rack, get a new one! its really nice to have smooth, quiet steering.

[dinanm3atl]

pump is quiet, rack is quiet and works great

it leaks a bit

[TwoJ's]

If you're going to use a stop leak fluid, just use ATF stop leak. After all, you are supposed to use ATF instead of power steering fluid.

[rThor432]

Check your hose clamps first. After going through heat cycles for ~20 years they tend to work their way loose. Sometimes you can just tighten them.

Sometimes the hoses just wear out, and there really isnt much you can do other than replace the hose.

Also make sure that you are running ATF fluid. You arent new to BMW's, and I believe that late model PS reservoir caps were labeled anyway, but a lot of people throw regular PS fluid in the system and that can destroy them.

[Axxe]

Lucas trans fix works great.

[ptownTSI]

having to top off once a year is a slow leak, once a week is a problem.