I have noticed several postings concerning control valve leaks from either new or freshly rebuilt control valves. A lot of them were reported as leaking around the stud. Power steering oil should be confined to the "bolt-on" section where the hoses connect and not in the stud area. If you determine that leakage is coming from the stud seal area, there are a couple possibilities:

1). It really isn't power steering fluid. Lubrication grease is working itself out of the seal. Original design stud seals had a zerk fitting and a slit in the seal that allowed excess grease to "purge" or leak out. Recent valves do not have a zerk fitting and the stud seal does not "purge." But if the valve was built with excess grease, the grease is going to get out somehow.

2). If the original stud seal was damaged and water was able to get into the valve, it is possible that the hydraulic valve bore became corroded and the internal annulus seal is leaking power steering fluid into the stud area. (A corroded valve bore will quickly wear out a sliding seal.)

3). The annulus seal, retainer, and/or the back-up washer were installed backwords or in the wrong order. It is my understanding that some of the instructions that come with "rebuilding kits" are not very clear. Please go to http://www.corvettefaq.com and look under Suspension and Steering. Look at the control valve cutaway which is posted as: Control Valve Sliding Seals Pic #3. I made two sketches that show the orientation and the correct order for the seals and other parts. < PRESSURIZED OIL > The block Vee seal and the annulus seal must be pointing away from the hydraulic oil portion of the valve.

I hope that this might answer and solve some leak problems.

 

ttt I sure am interested in any comments on trying to solve the control valve leak problem.

JIML82