Re: Pumps and Racks...

[Michael Spiers <mikes@specnet.com>]

> I have never had a pump fail.  IME I lived with the slowly leaking rack for
> quite some time until the rate of leakage increased.  The car tells you when
> the fluid is low, so as long as you are prepared with an extra bottle or two
> of Pentosin I wouldn't worry about it, just monitor it ...

I'll second that motion.  The rack in my (now her) '84 5kS leaked slowly for
quite some time (several years.)  Then one year it got worse & worse, 'till I
finally gave up.  I drove it from State College, PA to Vermont for a PSIA
(Professional Ski Instructors of America) conference, and half way there I had
to pull over & fill up with Pentosin.  The light started flashing again when I
was almost at the resort, so while at Mt. Snow I filled her up with what I had
left.  On the trip home, the light started flashing half-way through the trip,
so I just left it alone & didn't do anything.  About an hour from SC the car
started making all kinds of racket, turned out to be the hydraulic pump.  Car
had run completely out of Pentosin & burned the pump out.  Mr. MacGuyver knife
took care of the belt, no more racket, and the car stayed that way for another
two years 'till I replaced everything & gave it to Ann.

-- 
-Mike
mikes@specnet.com
mks107@psuvm.psu.edu
87 5000CS TQ-Metropolitan Washington, D.C.
84 5000S - Boulder, Colorado
90 80 - Bethesda, Maryland