[s-cars] power steering trouble

[Peter Golledge]

Mike,

Impact gun and modified (grind down corners) Sears "flat blade" socket
should work to get the cap out.  Might have to die grind back the cap slot
into some sort of functional shape.

Don't recall if the plugs are steel.  If they are you could have a nut
welded on, ugly but functional. 

Don't run the Hyd system empty _it_ will send bits of metal through
everything when the pump grenades/seizes.  This can set a chain of events
you might not like:

Seized pump can take out the serpentine which... 
can take out your timing belt which ....
can take out your motor...

I've used heavy equipment Hydraulic fluid (Mobil DTE-13M or similar) as a
temporary hyd oil replacement.  Many other listers run it constantly.  YMMV.

O-rings should be available from any decent Auto parts place.  I went
slightly thicker than stock to ensure a good seal.  Works fine.

Regards
-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Mike Fitton
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 3:41 PM
To: s-car
Subject: [s-cars] power steering trouble

...otherwise known as: Help me not pay $360 for a seven-cent o-ring.

So my power steering system has been slowing leaking fluid for several
months now.  It wasn't fast enough to worry about it until last weekend.  I
was kind of afraid it was the rack, so I kind of did the head in the sand
bit for a while.  Finally it started coming out fast enough to take a look.
Rack's fine.  It's coming out of that goofy plug on top of the pump.  You
know, the one that looks like a giant phillips-head.  So I used my biggest
flat-head and got it off relatively easily (the first time).  Found an
o-ring underneath that has clearly failed.  But I didn't have a new o-ring
for it and I'm fresh out of CHF-11S, so I stick it back on.  Then I
remembered that there's a 24-hour Advance not far from here, so I decided to
take the o-ring with me over there to get a new one.

But now I can't get the plug out.  I didn't think I put it in that tight,
but it isn't budging.  After about an hour of messing with it, the plug
itself isn't looking too healthy.  I've used that screwdriver and a couple
of other things.  Even ground down a chisel to a flat tip, but everything
just skips out of the head.  I needed the car the next day, so I put some
RTV around the edge hoping it would hold fluid.  The RTV held at first, but
now it's leaking again and not slowly.  So I'm in desperate need of a new
o-ring and preferably a new plug to stick in there.

So my first question: anyone have any clever ideas how to get that little
guy out?

Second question: can I get just a new plug from somewhere?  There's a check
valve under the plug that sits against it just so, so I can't just stick a
random bolt in it.  ETKA doesn't appear to list a separate p/n for it, so
officially the only way to get a new plug is with a new pump.

Third question: if I run out of p/s fluid for a few days before new fluid
arrives in the mail, will it damage anything?  The pump isn't such a big
deal, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let a bad o-ring on the front of
the engine destroy the rack on the firewall.

Fourth question: why didn't I just look at it three months ago, like an
intelligent and well-adjusted guy would have done?

-Cheers!
Mike
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