Power Steering question

[Phil Rose]

At 7:43 PM -0500 12/27/04, TooManyAudis at aol.com wrote:
>I have a 500 mile drive ahead of me tomorrow, and need to do it with a  leaky
>hydraulic system -- I have a new high pressure hose on the way, but I  won't
>be able to do the repair until the weekend.
>
>I have a full can of pentosin in the car, as well as maybe 8 ounces left 
>from the liter I bought last week.  I will top off before starting out, but
>don't really want to break into the new can until I have replaced the  hoses.
>
When my high-pressure hose decided to leak, it seemed to begin rather 
suddenly and then spewed Pentosin with great enthusiasm. I did not 
have the "luxury" of being able to nurse it along with small doses of 
Pentosin every few days or so. There previously had not been any 
(minor) leakage that I had noticed-- until one day I did a short 
drive, parked the car for a few hours, and when I came back there was 
a large puddle of Pentosin on the pavement. I refilled, and then the 
short drive home (about 10 miles) used a significant amount of fluid. 
I  suspect that on a long trip I might have needed a full can every 
50 or 100 miles.

You might be lucky and go 500 miles on just one or two cans. Just 
keep in mind that the leakage rate could suddenly get much worse.

>Can I run the car without the PS belt attached to keep the hydraulic fluid 
>from leaking all out, or do I need to stop being cheap and just fill the damn
>thing up whenever my brake light begins to flash on the car?

As you know, without power assist you'll be needing quite a bit of 
muscle to steer and to brake. I sure wouldn't want to have that 
situation while driving in traffic.  Since the PS belt is the 
innermost one, you'll probably want to simply cut it off. Leaving it 
in place--but slackened--might be an alternative (i.e., loose enough 
to be unable to turn the pump pulley).

The best alternative might be to rent a car for this trip, if 
possible. Good luck.

Phil


-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net