Help me out here guys...this sounds like roughly the same thing I encountered this morning. Some groaning from the PAS as I left my driveway for a dentist appointment, then an oil slick in the dentist's parking lot and no power steering...after shouting obscenities and shaking my fist at the sky for a few minutes I snapped the below picture. I guess it just figures this couldn't happen on a nice sunny, warm day...

Until reading this thread (https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...se-help-46005/), I'd been thinking that the Power Steering Reservoir, (or maybe even the cap?) has somehow failed.

From what I can see, it looks like the fluid was forced out around the cap as the entire top of the PAS tank is drenched in fluid.


If the pump failed, I'd assume there would be little or no pressure. Thoughts?

 

Before posting, it would be to your benefit to crawl under the truck and look for your self, what exactly is wrong. I would forget about your 2 first thoughts, it isn't the cap or reservor it is either the hoses or the pump, with a slight possibility of it being a leaking p/s gear box.
So, how mechanical are you?

 

How mechanical am I? I'd say that after nearly 18 months of Rover ownership I can get by pretty well. I have access to a full shop with a lift, welders, etc... To date, I've done the high mileage maintenance checklist, the ABS Mod, replaced brakes, rotors, calipers, the water pump, fan clutch.

I'm confident that I can handle replacing either a steering box or power steering pump if that's what you're getting at.

That said, my guess at it being the reservoir was based on the fact that it's covered in fluid (and maybe a little wishful thinking).

I'm under the truck on a pretty regular basis (i.e.- at least weekly), and haven't noticed anything exciting going on with the steering box or power steering pump previously. As the fluid seems to have come from the reservoir and coated everything from there down, I didn't shoot any other pix, but I'll go do so now and will post back shortly.

 

OK. I just happened to have an extra bottle of LR PAS fluid in the trail kit, so I dumped it in the reservoir, wiped down all of the major components as well as I could to make spotting leaks easier, and started the truck. Turning the wheel a few times to get the PAS fluid flowing...

Turning to the right was pretty easy (a little jerky, but that would be expected since there is certainly air in the system), but turning left was much tougher. (i.e.- Turning the wheel to the left almost felt like there was no PAS at all.) Maybe this would also be expected?

What I'm finding is that strangely, it isn't leaking when the engine is running. At worst, it may have lost a few drops of fluid when I was turn the wheels from side to side. (I know this isn't good, but read on...) When I turn the engine off though, it starts leaking like a sieve (see picture, PAS fluid is running off the back of the steering box). I can't tell if it's coming from the very top of the bigger hose running from the reservoir to where it connects to the pwr steering pump (you can see this hose glistening from the PAS fluid running down it in the picture), or from the the pump itself, but the fluid is running down the hose and splattering all over the place. From what I can see, the steering box doesn't appear to be leaking, just having PAS fluid running onto it when the engine is off.


I guess my questions now are:

• Does the leak only happening when the engine is off imply that it's the hose, or should I just plan on replacing both the hose and the PS pump?
• Given that I've driven a lot of trucks without power steering, is there any reason I shouldn't be able to continue to drive the D2 while I wait for the replacement PS pump and hose?

 

Pulled and inspected the hose feeding fluid from the reservoir to the pump. Re-installed using decent hose clamps...no improvement.

After doing a much more thorough cleaning of the underside of the pump, I've concluded that the gasket has failed. Consequently, I then pulled the Acc mounting bracket and the pump. The bearings feel good, and the gasket didn't show any signs of being failed, but it was still pretty deteriorated in several places.

As pulling the pump was a PITA, I'm sourcing a new pump from PT Schram. Will install ASAP...

 

Looks like I'm in the same boat