12/22/2015

Leaky Power Steering Hoes!

I've been seeing a few drops of something on the garage floor recently. I thought it was oil but, it had a funky smell. The other day Helena made a groan while turning sharply out of a parking lot. It sounded a lot like the noise a car makes when it is low on power steering fluid.

Upon inspection that indeed was the case. The reservoir was quite low. I jacked her up to see what the hoses looked like. Of course everything was soaked in fluid. Someone had been here before. There was a non stock hose clamp on the pump end of the return line. It was dug into the hose pretty pretty good. I did what I could but there was no saving the poor guy.

 

Once I finally got the hose off the pump and out of the reservoir, I saw that there was a part number and a date stamp. This hose had been on here since 98! Like, when the car was made. At 160K I'd say it did fairly well. The ends were cracked, hard, and leaking. Obviously it had leaked before given the non OEM hose clamp. That was a band aid.


BMW put crimp on style clamps in this area. There is no removal and reuse on those guys. The reason I like OEM clamps is because they do not dig into the hose like the perforated after market ones do. They are all smooth, which, I have realized is a really nice thing.

The two big name local auto part shops didn't have a hose in stock. Given I'd be waiting 2-3 days I improvised. I used 19/32 PCV hose to get me by. This will give me time the get past the holiday travel then, I'll order the proper parts.

I took out the reservoir and cleaned it up, inside and out. 

Since I was under here anyway I went ahead and took of the feed line as well. It was also a bit leaky but, the hose wasn't toast. It had the stock crimp clamp on it. I noticed that this line had a second crimp clamp lower down. I thought it odd but, figured it was there for a reason. It was, there is a small metal delimiter (if you will) in there. All I can figure is that this is used to hold pressure in the rest of the line and, keep fluid from blasting up into the reservoir.


From the last coolant go around I had two stock BMW clamps left over. This fit the almost 1/2 return hose nicely. I did have to use a perforated clamp on the feed line. I clamped it lightly as to avoid digging in. I'll have to get back to this guy soon with an OEM clamp. Else it may end up in the same boat as the return line did. Although, it wouldn't be a bad idea to purchase a new one. We will see.


  

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