The driver's side of my engine, front end, trans, etc is all covered with oil. I have ordered the vacuum pump reseal kit-no doubt I need to do that. My power steering fluid does need to be refilled from time to time though. Not on a real regular basis, but it is becoming more of a problem. It is hard to tell where the ps fluid is coming from with all the other engine oil there, but I dried everything off, ran it for a while, and looked around. There may have been a drip at the bottom of the ps pump. Also, there is some play in the lower shaft on the steering gear, which probably means that is leaking. How much play is allowable in the steering gear output shaft before replacement is needed, and does the coupler seal from the vacuum pump reseal kit only seal up engine oil, or does it seal up ps fluid too? If I need to replace PS pump or steering box, I would rather do it when I am putting in the reseal kit anyway. None of the lines appear to be leaking, btw. Thanks!

 

the seal kit seals the engine oil leak only, but u can purchase the steering box seals, without replacing the box...when i did my vac seal , i left the ps pump intact imo much easier

 

theres 4 bolts on top of your steering box, my guess is two or three of them are loose.

 

This is a dumb question, but where is the power steering resevoir? I want to check the level and change the fluid, but I just can't find it.

 

Here Ya go.

http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/mt_2_fe...l_sys_comp.htm

 

Thanks, those pictures help a lot.

 

My fluid was leaking as well, your PS Pump may be on the out, when that happens, it will just push the fluid out the top of the resevior....

 

usually its the hydroboost thats at fault, when you replaced the PS pump you replaced the fluid, likely thats what fixed it. 90% of the time replacing the fluid with syn cures the overflowing PS resivor issue, which 99% of the time occurs in the cold weather only.

Usually when a PS pump fails it fails to make any pressure or it pukes a seal, in20+ yrs twisting wrenches I've only ever seen hydroboost systems overflow the resivor, never seen it happen on a veh that does not have a hydroboost, that being said I dont claim to have seen everything either

 

I had a leak on the bottom of my box too. It was the Pittman shaft seal. $10 from Autozone and 1 hours the leak is fixed. Not too hard of a job.

 

I replaced my hydroboost a while back, I could tell it was the hydroboost because oil was covering everything immediately below the hydroboost. Not to mention on down to the frame, ps reservoir, wheel well, etc.

Of course the hydroboost replacement helped me turn a huge leak (fill once every 2 days) into a small leak (fill once a month)

I was able to procrastinate the replacement by using VERY thick P.S. fluid stop leak - I think it was lucas brand, about a 12 ounce bottle.

stop leak works good for waiting on a paycheck to buy a real fix, but will eventually fail.