Leaking power steering fluid!

[quinny]

Does anyone know why when driving down the road last week, I got this strange noise coming from the power steering. I looked underneath the car and there was a big puddle of power steering fluid. After getting a mechanic, I found out it was coming out the transfer box breather pipe.

Is it the steering rack or some major problem that is expensive to fix???

[ROG]

the seal in the tx box has gone if its coming out of the breather, you can get a recon box from vts or get a second hand one and find someone to fit it , you can bypas the tx box and put it into 2wd to make the car driveable (if you can call a 2wd turbo drivable) , theres a guide somewere but i cant remember were

[quinny]

thought it might be the seal but a vauxhall mechanic said when he blocked the breather an filled it back up the steering was still heavy so it might be a seal in the rack? is he just tryin to make more money out of me?

[ROG]

as far as i know the breather is in the tx box, the seal is between it and the fluid, if theres a hole in the seal is the only way it can come out of the breather , have you seen it coming from the breather tube , its normaly tucked up by the coolant bottle comes up from the gearbox, if its connected to the top of the tx box you should be able to trace it down to check its connected, it will be coming from the breather if its the seal
there should be a 4x4 light on as well i presume it doesnt go off if theres no pressure on the seal

[Stupink]

LMFAO at the vaux mechanic.
the transfer box breather is a breather for the box iteself, so the transmisison oil etc it uses, PAS fluid can only get into the box and out the breather when the transferr box is knackered. blocking the breather pipe and refilling the pas and testing it shows only that the guy has no idea how it works in the slightest.
the pas fluid will still run low, it will just fill the box and compress the air in there or blow the pipe off or whatever..

You need to disconnect the feed to the 4x4 accumulator and connect it to the accumulator system return, then refill the pas, this will give you 2wd PAS with fuse19 removed.

Get your car back from these people asap and speak to someone who has a clue before they start asking you for your credit card number.

[quinny]

cheers lads got it back this mornin time to start lookin for a second hand tx box. any one got one for sale?