My pump RETURN hose started leaking profusely at the crimp. It was a replacement part, only a few years old on a 1k mile/ year garaged car. Again, this is not the pressure hose. Fortunately it happened at home or I would have been stranded. I've worked on hundreds of C2 and C3s- the original hoses can be fine after 30 years of driving. I'm reluctant to replace old, original parts because the new ones fail way too early. I wish I kept my old PS hoses.

I bought a NAPA hose which looked like original in the photo but the part delivered had no strong metal crimp, only a cheap hose clamp. Even worse the hose collapsed when bent (turning left).

I love these cars, it's just so frustrating when most replacement parts are of such abysmal quality. Chrome mirrors that pit within a few months, new grills whose "chrome" on the fins falls off within a few months -- all on a mostly garaged car.

My wishes for 2023:
1. A rating service that judges the quality of the part
2. The country of manufacture listed immediately below the part name

Rant over,
Thanks for listening

 

If you want to rant, we're here for that. I replaced every hose in my 79, and they still leaked. And every component leaked. And, no, I don't want to rebuild this system myself.

If you are looking for solutions:
The Borgeson conversion in my 79 works great. Doesn't leak, and feels more like a modern car.
The manual conversion in my 80 also doesn't leak, and preserves the period-appropriate steering.

So there are solutions to this problem, but you have to cheat.

BTW, you may want to delete your duplicate post.

 

I noticed this as well. My p s return hose needs replacing, the regular auto parts retailers had the ones you have with the clamp. A quick look at Volunteer Vette seems to have the OEM style. Will order this spring.

 

​​​​​​I don't think the crimp, or lack thereof, is the problem. It is the quality of the hose being used. The aftermarket hoses appear to have a much thinner wall thickness than original. After having my aftermarket hose crack, I cut the crimp off and replaced the hose with ps hose from the parts store. It was much better quality, yet flexible enough to endure the movement while turning the steering wheel.

 

Thanks for the good suggestions.

PS I wanted to deleted the duplicate post but gave up after a while not finding how to do that My bad 2x.

 

My hose that leaked was also from a major Corvette supplier and looked like OEM, however it died very prematurely. I'd guess that all are now from the same sad source.

Too late, I came up with a possibly better solution: take the old hose(s) to a local hydraulics rebuilder and have them install good hoses.

 

If it's just the return hose cut the crimp and just replace the rubber hose on the steel line with a hose clamp and possibly make it a bit longer. Maybe the problem is more with the hose movement then the quality.

 

An old friend owns a hydraulic hose/fluids rebuilder/seller business . I’ll likely take my old hose there and have them make a new high quality one. . Thanks for the suggestion.

 

The solution is simple. No power steering my 69 has none and I guess after reading this post won’t ever!! Ike

 

Using some -6AN SS braided hose I made my own hoses for both pressure and return in the power steering system. This allowed me to run the hoses a bit further out of the way to be clear of the belts and headers. They were easy to make and have worked flawlessly for many years. Personally I have driven a 1968 with power steering and a 1969 without power steering and I am very "happy" to have power steering in my 1968 C3.

Having installed a Steeroids Power Rack and Pinion Steering system many years ago and that got rid of the "Grandpa's Buick" feeling of the old GM recirculating ball power steering systems. It was a fairly easy system to install and made a big improvement. In the long run I think that getting rid of the entire hydraulic power steering system and replacing it with a Electric Power Steering system would be the smartest of all steering improvements for me and my C3. The simplicity of the Electric Power Steering system and the reduction of weight by eliminating the Hydraulic pump, belts and fluid would help reduce the weight on the front of my BB C3.

To get a long life out of any Power Steering system is it important to add a power steering fluid cooler. I also have a 1988 C4 and those have a small plastic reservoir that helps promote high fluid temperatures. By adding a power steering fluid cooler the rack and pinion seals will last years longer and save you a lot of work. On my C3 I added a 1 quart aluminum reservoir to the power steering system which helped reduce the operating temperatures dramatically. Cooler fluids help make parts last longer. I am not sure which "bright eyed" engineer at GM came up with a plastic reservoir for the power steering systems on the C4's. Probably the same one who did the Plastic Oil tank/reservoir used with the dry sump systems used in the C8 Corvettes. To make it worse the casting lines are vertical which helps all the oil drain out when the dry sump reservoir cracks. There are places to save money and there are places where it becomes a "bad idea". Hot fluids and plastic always seem like a bad idea to me.