I have an 86 gxl and the power steering fluid leaks slowly from the steering gear boot or bellows, in particular the passenger side innner of the boot. What I am wondering is whether or not it is supposed to even be in the bellows...I mean someone told me that they are just like a dust cover and by the way, the ones I have are brand new. I just don't think that they are supposed to hold in the power steering fluid due to the fact that the inside of the rack must maintain pressure to operate properly. Furthermore, I would like to just remove the pump any way, do I need to block off the pressure inlets on the rack? What all should I do if I am goingt to remove the pump/reservoir? Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

the boots are just dust covers, and no their not ment to hold fluid. the seals on your rack have gone out. just replacing the boots will not do anything but make a mess ^^ get a repair kit or get it repaird, or spend about $160 like i was going to do and get a rebuilt one with life time warenty ^^ as for not using the power stearing pump, just keep thins in mind. to easily take the rack and pinion out of the car, you almost have to pull the motor, also, it requires about 300 psi i believe to function correctly, so, i have been told that if you only tap the lines togeather n cap it off, the gears and ect. will not last over a few years. which means you would have to replace it again, almost pulling the engine again :P i was going to do the same till i came across a verry rare non powerstearing rack and pinion that im going to get rebuilt ^^ at least its real rare here in houston. good luck

 

First off, the boots don't do anything for fluid. Strictly dust/debri protectors.



If your rack is bad, and you want to ditch power steering (PS) from now on..just get a manual rack and swap it. Manual racks go for about $50 to $100 used in most areas or on ebay/forums.



Simply capping the rack will work, but you do run the risk of allowing foreign objects getting into the shaft and causing harder steering/broken steering gears, etc... but that's pretty extreme. I ran mine capped for over a year w/ no real problems.



Another option is to simply relace the PS unit all together. You should be able to find them used for a decent cost. You can get them out of the car w/ the engine in there. It's just easier when the engine is out.



You could also build a custom rack, which is what I'm doing now..and will have details on as early as this weekend.

 

Also, if you decide to run it capped, drain as much fluid as you can... leaving the fluid in there and looping and/or capping the lines will just cause them to bust...

 

Sorry for multiple posts, but the final note i have is to keep an eye on that fluid, be sure it doesnt get to your paint, it will eat away at it. A mixture of brakefluid, ps fluid and oil..etc destroys our engine bay paint, lol... look at my garage to see a pic of what i'm talking about...

 

Thanks guys, I think I will just find a manual rack and remove all of the other things, for that do you have to remove the engine? I haven't been under my car for a while so I don't remember whether or not the bushings are removable from under there without removing anything else.

 

You can do the swap w/ the engine in the car... if you have full ps and a/c its harder, but its not that bad... you can get to the bushings/etc from the bottom or top depending on how much of a reach you have!

 

Thats great thanks alot