steering fluid leak?

[moyesboy]

Under tge sump guard at tye bottom of tye radiator there is a pair of pipes runing across the vehicle connected together by a flexible u bend on the passenger side. I don t understand why they are routed like that but thry appear to come from the power steering pump.
anyway there appears to be a drip comng from where it is clipped on.
power steering fluid doesnt seem all that low though, considering i get a new 1.5 inch spot every day.
i am getting some increased noise from the power steering pump but there are no leaks near the pump.
fluid level is only 5mm below cold min. I will try topping that up. What spec?
Any advice?

 

[exosteve]

Common problem.there cooling pipes.just cut em off and join em up

 

[AlexD333]

Need to get some hammerite or waxoyl on that chassis too before it eats away

 

[moyesboy]

So to clarify:
I have to drain the power steering? Cut the pipes off, join them with some flexible pipe? The ends seem to have something on them to stop the flexi blowing off.
the idea is the oil cools in these pipes....is that for some very hot country and not necessary in uk?
What if i subsequently got so confident in my noisy gearbox that i drove it to spain amnd thrashed it up a mountain in 30c?
Does the power steering need some fancy bleeding when i refill?

waxoyl..is it ffective just to paint that on top of the rust? or is there something magic i should paint on first...
The rust has spread over the winter...lots of snow and salt and quite a few miles this winter for this 'spare' car.

 

[Sweety]

Very common problem which I fixed on my last T2 (waiting for this ones to start) the alloy pipe wears very thin behind the mounting brackets & pin hole develop, I priced up a set of new pipes from Nissan & they were over £200 9 years ago:doh I wanted to keep my cooler pipes full length so went to the scrap yard & got a bit of rubber power steering pipe off a micra as it's 9mm ID (shops around here only sell 10mm ID) removed the brackets & cut the alloy pipes in 1/2 behind where the bracket covers & slid 2-2.5" or the rubber hose over the pipes to act as a joiner & sealer & hose cliped the hose in place then put a bit of old hose pipe over the rubber hose to protect it & made up 2 new larger brackets & it never leaked the slightest drop over the following 3 years I had that truck:thumb2 if/when these ones go i'll do the same again
To bleed the system top up the bottle & start the engine & work the steering from lock to lock & keep on topping up the bottle when it's bled the pump will go quiet again & the level will stop going down

 

[exosteve]

So to clarify:
I have to drain the power steering? Cut the pipes off, join them with some flexible pipe? The ends seem to have something on them to stop the flexi blowing off.
the idea is the oil cools in these pipes....is that for some very hot country and not necessary in uk?
What if i subsequently got so confident in my noisy gearbox that i drove it to spain amnd thrashed it up a mountain in 30c?
Does the power steering need some fancy bleeding when i refill?

waxoyl..is it ffective just to paint that on top of the rust? or is there something magic i should paint on first...
The rust has spread over the winter...lots of snow and salt and quite a few miles this winter for this 'spare' car.

The rubber u bend in the picture can be taken off and drain that way.cut the pipes short and reuse the u shape rubber or use new.
Top the resovior up. Run engine with res cap off and wiggle steering.
I can't imagine a situation that would make the fliud get hot enough to cause problems

 

[moyesboy]

All done exactly as described. all seems good.
There is still plenty of pipe exposed to the wind for cooling.

Thanks for the advice. This forum always comes up with the answers!

 

[panelbeater]

i had a power steering leak and it was the metal pipe,i cut it put a bit of rubber puipe with clips and walla no leaks.

 

[macabethiel]

PIpes

I have used the copper based pipe by Kuniffer in the past they make larger bore pipes as well as standard brake pipe replacement.

Also have used stainless steel pipe when I moved Hydrolastic suspension pipes on my Mini to the inside running on the floor pan to stop it being damaged when rallying back in the 70's. It was a devil to bend even slightly but got unions from a Hydraulic Pipe firm who made HGV and Digger replacement pipes.