red fluid dripping off my drop arm

[teaandbiscuits]

just to confirm my suspicions, i have some red fluid dripping on the floor whenever i stop my 300tdi. theres gunky oil around the boot on the lower part of the drop arm and oil around the top. is this my power steering box leaking? i'm off to the shops later and i'm going to pick up some of that magical stop leak stuff if it is!

cheers all

[jad]

yes

[steve200TDi]

As you say, if there's red oil running down your drop arm then your output seal on you steering box is starting to fail/has failed. You can buy new seal kits, like this, but if the shaft is scored then its probably a false economy so maybe a new box is in order?

Steve

[teaandbiscuits]

boo, as i thought. thanks very much. in my googling today have heard good things about reconditioned ones from adwest. think thats what I'll have to do.

thanks all!

[carlosbeldia]

Here in Colombia buying a steering pump costs as much as buying a mint condition Series, so I had to change drop arm and seals in order to stop the leaking. It didn't stop completly, but a year and a half later, I have consumed about 100 cc of the steering fluid pint I bought....

[western]

Check the panhard rod bush at that side isn't contaminated with PAS fluid, if it's a rubber bush it'll get soft & loose it's will to work correctly.

[Les Henson]

If the leak isn't too bad - put a capful of DOT4 brake fluid in the reservoir. This makes the seals swell a little and sometimes stops the leak altogether.

If it's gushing out - then forget it.

Les.

[teaandbiscuits]

have put in some wynns stop power steering leaks stuff and topped up with fluid. will see what its like tomorrow! will also check the panhard bush, thanks for the pointer. :-)

thanks for all the replies.