Noticed my truck is starting to leak a ton of oil from the power steering pump. Upon further inspection it appears that engine oil has somehow entered my power steering unit and flowing out the top of the ps pump (overfull) Is this possible? I recently replaced the vacuum pump seal and all was well until a couple days ago.
I run rotella T and before with nice shiney red power steering fluid..The stuff is now black as sin and smells like rotella and is pouring out of the cap. I searched and didnt yield any results could my vac pump be toast?
Guess I'll atleast order up another seal kit from cummins but im wondering what caused this? I thought the vac pump recieved engine oil from that fitting on the bottom of the vac pump and then pukes it back into the engine thru the front gear.
Thanks in advance!!

 

The design of the pump precludes any engine oil ever gaining access to the power steering pump, unless poured there by someone.

If your vacuum pump blows a seal the oil will drop out between the power steering pump and the vacuum pump, or it will fume and end up in the vacuum lines. If the vacuum pump is functioning, no evidence of external oil leaks, and the inside of the vacuum hose is dry then it is just fine and unrelated to the power steering issue.

The most frequent cause of black oil is failure of the lower bearing on the sector shaft of the steering gear itself. What happens is the bearing gets loose, the sector rocks and then grinds out the recirculating worm and turns the oil black. The most frequent cause of overflowing is a loose or perforated return hose. Given the age and mileage, and that it is a four wheel drive, I would suspect both of these are the problem. When you replace the steering gear box with a rebuilt it is critical on a 4X4 that you add a lower steering gear box bearing stabilizer such as the one sold by Windecker Machine Ltd. You will probably also find the front axle trackbar is loose at the upper frame mount, that is what very quickly knocks out the steering gear bearing. Windecker also has a kit that will allow you to repair that situation economically.