Hello, first post here. Walked out to my truck this morning and saw a large puddle of fluid under it. Source is the power steering fill / resivour. The cap was on, not completly tight, but not loose. Fluid had come out under the cap.
The fluid level was high. Started the truck, no brakes, power steering. Ran the motor up to about 1500 rpms and got the steering and brakes back, even at an idle. Had a problem about two months ago where I lost the brakes/ steering on a cold start, then came back after idleing up. No fluid leek at that time. Any help will be most appreciated. Thank you.
Jim Findlay
2002 Ram 2500 4x4 24 valve diesel auto trans. All stock, 42,000 miles.
PS would this part be under the engine warrany?
Thanks

 

Hi Jim.. Welcome to the site...The power steering pump sure sounds liek cavitation in teh system... some how got air in there that is expanding and pushing out the fluid.

The brakes i am not enough of a mech. to want to give advise on, 'cause it would just be a guess....vacum leak?
sounds like theres a leak somewhere that is pulling air in...

 

Welcome to the board Jim.
It sounds like your accumulator let loose. It's the blue bottle looking thing next to the hydraboost. It's filled with nitrogen to aid in stopping & steering if your hyraboost goes out. It's good for one panic stop, then it fills the power steering res. with it's gas & contaminates the system. To replace it the dealer wants $600. You may find a rebuilt one somewhere. I had it happen to my 01 that I had. I found a co. in portland Or. that rebuilt mine for $200 The turn around was only one day.

 

I've got a similar problem. Noticed today that my steering box is covered in oil and the fluid was low. I'm hoping that it's just overflow from my recent four wheeling trip and not a cracked housing or something. I topped the fluid off today and cleaned the housing. Time will tell.

 

Glenn is correct, most likely the accumulator. If I'm not mistaken Rapid Brake at (360) 357-4958 offers a rebuild kit for around $25

 

I am having the same problem with my '97 dodge. I was hopping you could pass along the information about where you had your accumulator rebuilt at and maybe the rest of us can get ours fixed too. Thank you.

 

On mine it was just necessary to drain and flush the PS system, fill with good fluid and back on the road.

HTH

AlpineRAM

 

Of course, if the accumulator has dumped and one just drains, refills and purges the system without repairing the accumulator, everything will work fine until you need to make that stop or turn with an engine that just died!!

To see if your accumulator is working, the next time you pull into the driveway, shut off the engine as normal. Now, apply the brakes a couple of times and see if you have boost or not.

Rusty

 

I did do the check according to the service manual- 3 brake applies with the engine stopped before the brake pedal had increased resistance.
I do this test at every fillup because I had the brake booster go out on a chevy once- talk about pucker factor!
Thanks for your concern.

AlpineRAM

 

Glad to hear it. I just didn't want anyone to think that simply draining and refilling the system will cure a failed accumulator. As I said, they will think that everything's OK UNTIL they need the accumulator!

Rusty

 

On mine the troubles started in very cold weather, seemed like the PS fluid had broken down and got all foamy and puked out of the reservoir. Had a lot of fun draining and refilling at -25C... same as my lift pump R&R ..

AlpineRAM

 

That's Murphy's Law, and Murphy and I are on a first-name basis. During the 22 years we lived in Central Ohio, I can't count the times I was under a vehicle lying on a sheet of ice making repairs! Very seldom did anything happen during the nice weather of the other 3 seasons.

Rusty

 

I can relate to Murphy.... Let's see who's the next to meet him

A friend of mine has a Rottweiler called Mr Murphy- he's in the security business and well- mess with him and you get to know Murphy's law

Back on topic- I think that changing the PS fluid regularly can avoid a lot of hassles with the brake booster and the seals in the PS-brake circuit. I wonder why it ain't a scheduled service item.

AlpineRAM

 

Valvoline synthetic blend with leak sealer will cure foaming on the '97-up trucks with Hydroboost.

Braking and cornering puts double load on the pump, causes the problem

Earlier trucks with vacuum boost usually do not have a foaming problem unless the pump is bypassing severely, with impending failure.