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I found some oil leak under the car. It's clear light brown, not dark like engine oil. Power steering fluid is empty, I refilled with MB PS fluid and Lucas PS stop leaking fluid. I still see leak on the floor everyday and PS fluid was empty again with a week. I didn't see any leak around/underneath PS reservoir and hose but found some right underneath PS pump and rack and pinion area. Could PS rack be leaking? No noise whatsoever. Replacement cost for the pump is around $900, for the rack is around $3000. Rack & pinion is a big job, has anyone get it done not from the dealer?
I found some oil leak under the car. It's clear light brown, not dark like engine oil. Power steering fluid is empty, I refilled with MB PS fluid and Lucas PS stop leaking fluid. I still see leak on the floor everyday and PS fluid was empty again with a week. I didn't see any leak around/underneath PS reservoir and hose but found some right underneath PS pump and rack and pinion area. Could PS rack be leaking? No noise whatsoever. Replacement cost for the pump is around $900, for the rack is around $3000. Rack & pinion is a big job, has anyone get it done not from the dealer?
This is funny, as I’ve just replaced my PS Pump a few weeks ago, as I also had a week. I never tried stop leak, as it’s just a band aid and won’t fix the problem anyway, only just buys you some time.
The only solution the a leaky PS Pump is replacing it. I had a tiny leak, that I could have gotten away with for a considerable amount of time before replacing, but I’m not a half-*** kind of a guy. I’m a do it right the first time kind f guy. As far as you owner steering rack goes, check your hoses and connections. I had a leaking rack on my BMW X5M, and it was just a hose that needed tighten up. I would spray everything down have brake cleaning, and clean it all up, to try and determine where exactly the leak is coming from.
Yes, I found your posts regarding the $3,700 replacing the pump and others stuffs. You must feeling good taking good care of the car. I don't know any trusty and reasonable indy shop where I live. My source is either the dealer or a mobile mechanic in my garage. Save some money with second option but I am not very comfortable with big jobs. I am going to replace the PS pump first since it is less expensive. I did check the hoses but did not found any leak. Some leaks dropped down right underneath the pump, leaks on the rack might be run down from the pump. FCP has the PS pump kit for around $370 including reservoir, bells, claims, fluid. I am going to take care the whole thing, hopefully he won't charge me too much. Thank you for the info.
Stop Leak is just a stop gap measure and doesn’t fix the problem. Your just putting a band aid on the problem. Fix it right the first time and be done with it.
If you use Stop Leak, it might fix the problem temporarily, and when you go on a decent road trip is when it will fail, leaving you stranded with no power steering. 😁 You might pay about $550 to replace it, this includes the pump.
If you don’t have a good shop that you trust, then search towns nearby. If I had to, I’d be willing to drive 100 miles to fix and issue if I had a good tech, that I could trust. Luckily for me, we have tons of shops in Northern Virginia, but I only take my car to Benz Elite Automotive in Fairfax, VA. Great guys that know there stuff.
Stop Leak is just a stop gap measure and doesn’t fix the problem. Your just putting a band aid on the problem. Fix it right the first time and be done with it.
If you use Stop Leak, it might fix the problem temporarily, and when you go on a decent road trip is when it will fail, leaving you stranded with no power steering. 😁 You might pay about $550 to replace it, this includes the pump.
If you don’t have a good shop that you trust, then search towns nearby. If I had to, I’d be willing to drive 100 miles to fix and issue if I had a good tech, that I could trust. Luckily for me, we have tons of shops in Northern Virginia, but I only take my car to Benz Elite Automotive in Fairfax, VA. Great guys that know there stuff.
You paid $550 for the to have you ps pump replaced? That's really good price!!! I just got 2 quotes, MB dealer: over $1,300 OTD, Indy MB shop: almost $1,100. Does anyone know a good indy shop in Tampa Bay, FL?
You paid $550 for the to have you ps pump replaced? That's really good price!!! I just got 2 quotes, MB dealer: over $1,300 OTD, Indy MB shop: almost $1,100. Does anyone know a good indy shop in Tampa Bay, FL?
I didn’t pay quite that much, since we were already doing the upper pan and the engine subframe was already out, I paid the price for the PS pump & new reservoir/fluids + $85 for one hour of labor to remove the old and install the new. That was $485. The $550 price was a rough estimate. But not off the mark. The issue for the high price quotes it that the PS pump is in a difficult spot to excess.
Replacing the PS pump involves sub frame remove? Oh no! My mechanic cannot perform that kind of job in my garage since he doesn't have the hoist to brave the engine up. Even the dealer will use the remanufactured PS pump, MB parts prices it $340 + $50 core charge. Over $900 for labor? Stealer!!! I can get it at FCP under $300 but they don't want to use part I provide.
No.......I was only attempting to say that my cost was cheaper, because they were fixing other things on my car, and access to the pump was un-impeaded.
The same goes for replacing my engine mounts and trans mount, I only paid that the parts not labor.
I understand the $1100 and $1300 price. They are using the shop manual that states this job takes this many hours, hence all the labor hours.
I was just asking if religious P/S fluid changes has been known to prevent P/S pump seal or bearing failure, or perhaps rack seal failure. Hose failure is something different and wasn't the focus of my question.
I was just asking if religious P/S fluid changes has been known to prevent P/S pump seal or bearing failure, or perhaps rack seal failure. Hose failure is something different and wasn't the focus of my question.
It wouldn't hurt to change your power steering fluid every two years. This is my current protocol. But there isn't any data, that says frequent changes prevents PS pump seal failures.
I just change my PS fluid every time, that I change my brake fluid. I had a 13 yr old pump. so if I can get another 1`3 yrs out of this new one, that would be awesome.
I didn’t get a photo of the pump in the car, the day that I went to the shop it was already out along with the entire subframe-and oil pan.
My tech has a machine that extracts the old fluid while introducing new fluid, it a cool machine. We used full synthetic fluids, I believe it was a BG Product. But the machine extracts it from the PS Steering Reservoir, not from a hose. Besides the steering rack came out as an assembly Along the engine subframe.
Do you have to replace the PS Steering Reservoir hose and Alternator drive belt? For around $100 more, I can get the whole set at FCP. I don't know if there will be extra charge for labor.
Do you have to replace the PS Steering Reservoir hose and Alternator drive belt? For around $100 more, I can get the whole set at FCP. I don't know if there will be extra charge for labor.
No, the power steering pump came with its own pulley attached, and we reused the hose, we did however replaced the reservoir.
I have my car inspected today, they found out there are no leak for the pump and reservoir but the pressure hose leaks badly. I need to buy parts so I took the car back home. My question is this kind of job can be done DYI? I have a tech guy who usually do some simple jobs for me. I don't know exactly which hose so I am going to buy all these 3: part# 211-466-72-81, 211-997-06-52, and 211-466-68-81
If it’s a simple hose replacement, then I would say yes for DIY. Just be sure that after the hoses are replaced and the fluid top off, run the car and turn the steering wheel lock to lock about ten times To ensure that their isn’t any air in the system. 👍🏽