Power steering pump leaking solved

[jay_cee]

There seems to be a common problem with the high pressure seal fitting, and the only way to fix it is by spending a motser and get a new hose, well, there is another way, and a hell of a lot cheaper.This is what to do,
Go to motor traders or a reputable general parts supplier, they sell the seal, well more like nut, but anyway, they sell it, you will have to be specific about the year of manufacture, the cost is around 12 bucks, now, for those of you who don’t know, this is what you have to do.

Remove the seal, (for ease of use ill call it the nut) ok, loosen and remove the nut from the pump, its going to be very tight, so you will need to use some muscle on it, but NO HAMMERS, just muscle.
Once you have it out, block the hole (in the pipe)with some clean rag or paper towel, this will keep the line clean while you do the operation, oh and have a can ready as all the fluid in the pump is going to come out, this is not a bad thing as when you finish the job, the system gets new fluid, and it MUST be suitable for the late fords, Valvoline sell a litre for around 13 bucks.

The pipe is held in the nut by a copper circlip, and this sits in a groove in the pipe and the nut, this clip is around 1mm in from the edge of the flat on the threaded end,(from where the nut section stops and the thread starts) so, with a small hacksaw, like a junior, make your cut on one of the nuts flats, 1 mm from the edge of the flat, if you use a junior hacksaw, you need to go down about 3/4 a blade depth, but keep an eye on the cut, you don’t want to cut into the pipe, but if done carefully you will feel when you get to the pipe, if in doubt, cut down the first flat around 2mm then do the same again on the adjoining flat, then do a rolling cut from one end of the first cut, to the end of the second cut, this is probably the easiest way, but once you get the new nut and look inside it, you will get what I am saying here.

Ok, you have got to the pipe, now you need to make another cut running parallel with the pipe to meet up with you first cut, taking great care not to get the pipe, i cut about half way and then put a screwdriver in the first cut and snap the bit away, and if you made 2 cuts, do this to the other cut, by doing this you will reveal the copper circlip, now with a small screwdriver force one end of the clip upward, once you do this you can get it with pliers, then its just a matter of pulling it out, once this is done, the nut comes off.
Now clean the pipe with dry rag or the like, remove the paper towel, or whatever you used to block the pipe, and push the new nut on, do not use any lube of any kind, do it dry, the nut will go on easy, and when you feel or hear a small click of the circlip locking in, your done, now refit the pipe to the pump, fill up the pump,and you just saved a couple of hundred bucks, i have now done 7 of these this way, and just today i did mine, total time, around 20 minutes, and that was my first one, now i can do it in 10.

If you have any questions, just ask, i will answer them all, if any, but to make it easier for me, try to use email, and mark the subject Ford Forum, my Spam Guard will not reject it then.

Jay Cee

[JC]

From one JC to another - thanks for that. Great money saving tip. Any chance of some pics next time you do one, just to see exactly how you cut the old nut off.

[jay_cee]

I forgot one important thing, you need to cut off the threaded part first, so cut down a bit, then turn the nut, cutting all the way round,continue this until you can get it off, the thickness is around 3mm, so take care, once you get this bit off, follow the rest of what i said above, i will take some photo's of the one i did on my AU today and post them so you can see what i am talking about, ill do that sunday night, so stay tuned.
Jay Cee

[accurate1]

If you have access to a lathe it makes the job a lot easier with less chance of damaging the pipe. Just part it off at the circlip location.

[Jastel]

I agree with you

This little nut is 80% of power steering leaks

Done this a lot myself, use angle grinder now, faster, but now I know what I'm doing, first few times used a hacksaw.