UPDATE: Ok, so I'm fine with realizing I'm a dumbass when it's proven to be so, and in this case, I was a dumbass. I'll admit it. I was working with limited information. Also my fault. So this first picture shows my view from under the LR2 with the splash plate or whatever that thing under the motor is called was removed. You can see where I smeared some high temp exhaust putty on the exhaust manifold "where the leak was coming from". I added an arrow for the supposed location of the pinhole spray. What I didn't know, until I removed the passenger side front wheel and got a side view of the situation, was that the spray wasn't coming from the exhaust manifold (even though that's totally how it looked from under the car), but from the high pressure feed line 4 or 5 inches away from the spot that it looked like it was spraying out of. It was hitting that spot rather than spewing from it. My bad, but at least I don't have to replace the manifold now.

So after I had the wheel off and found out that I was indeed, a dumbass, I found the actual leak. It's on the high pressure feed line, I believe, if I'm reading diagrams correctly. You can see from the following picture how rusted it is. The line on the left is disconnected from my work today, but that's not the problem. The blue arrow is where the leak is. I say IS because it's not fixed yet. Working outside in a balmy 17 degrees today and I was unable to fix the damn thing because the hose/line that I bought, which is the actual damaged line, is fitted to another line above it with a compression fitting (the yellow arrow). I read somewhere that these fittings may be "mountable but not unmountable". Is that the case, or is there some magic way to get that thing to release? Or can I cut it off carefully and use something else? The high pressure feed line, which I believe is the top line that it connects to, is almost $200, so if there's an alternative way to go about this, that's what I'm looking for. If not, so be it. I'll buy the damn line and be done with it, I suppose.

So long story short, power steering fluid never entered the exhaust manifold, which made no damn sense to anyone, including myself, but that doesn't help me with the actual situation whatsoever. I'm currently adding a quart of power steering fluid every 2-3 days by filling it before every drive. And it smokes like crazy all the time from fluid burning on the manifold. A serious pain in the ***. That's life though, right? nothing is ever easy....

 

Nick, you need to download and study the service manual. It will tell you what to do. And all of us are dumbasses until we figure out how to do things correctly.

 

I have the service manual, and have been referencing it, but can't find anything about that compression union, or whatever it's called.

 

Well of course you will not find that small, disposable piece. You will have to replace the entire component, not just the union. The manual will tell you how to do that. That compression union was factory-applied, I would be astonished if the service manual said it can be replaced in the field.

 

That's what I meant by "mountable but not unmountable". That's how I read it somewhere. I guess I'll be buying that other piece of the line now. Again, thanks for your help.

 

Oh, it's all unmountable, but if that is a high pressure hydraulic line you need to own special tools to work with those hoses and fittings. otherwise it will unmount itself at the worst possible time.