Power steering leak

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Apr 13, 2011 | 09:43 AM

janmn

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From: Karup J

Power steering leak

Ever since I bought the Corvette, there has been some leakage from the P/S valve. A friend told me not to bother, since it was only a few drops every now and then.
Last month there was a large puddle on the floor, and it turned out, that all the P/S oil had been evacuated on the garage floor. So I refilled the system hoping to be able to see the leak, but oddly enough there were no leaks. So I have been driving her for a month now without issues, but then yesterday there was a new leak. A pretty large puddle but not completely empty this time, so apparently the leakage has stopped halfway. Any ideas, please?

Apr 13, 2011 | 09:56 AM

mikejpss

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From: Where it's always hot as Hell-South Louisiana.

St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13

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Inspect all your hoses and pump pulley area. If none found there, it is most likely your power steering control valve assembly. Search that topic. I rebuilt mine in a few hours time with no trouble, and stopped the leak.
try this :http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...rol-valve.html

Apr 13, 2011 | 09:58 AM

Surfer69

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From: Manhattan Beach Ca

Typical problem with the PS valve. I have the same leaky valve for 9 years. Sometimes it will hold for 6 months then it will leak like a siv. I just use some auto store stop leak and it usually works fine.

Eventually need to replace the valve or rebuild.

Apr 13, 2011 | 11:34 AM

janmn

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From: Karup J

Thank you for the replies. Will try the stop-leak product first, but I guess you are right, that I will eventually need to replace the valve altogether.

Apr 13, 2011 | 02:20 PM

Jim Shea

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From: Saginaw Michigan

The problem with "stop leak" fluid is that it is designed to actually attack rubber parts and make them swell. It can stop a slight leak from a specific rubber part with the swelling of the material. One problem is that not only does the leaking culprit swell but so does all the other rubber materials, (i.e. the inside surface of the rubber hoses, gaskets, o-rings, lip seals, etc.) It does sometimes work for a while, but at the expense of the other parts as well.

When you finally replace the actual o-ring or lip seal that leaks, I would replace all of the other rubber parts as well as the fluid.
Jim

Apr 13, 2011 | 02:29 PM

janmn

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From: Karup J

@ Jim. Thanks for the heads up on that. It sounds like I should look into a replacement to begin with.

Apr 13, 2011 | 02:37 PM

mikejpss

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From: Where it's always hot as Hell-South Louisiana.

St. Jude Donor '07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13

Quote:

Originally Posted by janmn

@ Jim. Thanks for the heads up on that. It sounds like I should look into a replacement to begin with.

Its not that hard to replace the seals. But it would be a really fun weekend ( or entire week) to chase all those swollen rubber parts if you use the "stop leak" gunk.... Just an opinion. Having done the seal replace job, I'd do mine again in a nano second.

Apr 13, 2011 | 02:48 PM

Wrecked82

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From: Texas

I've done the stop leak thing in the power steering and even a little bit in the differential (leaking at the pinion seal). Never again. It works for only a short period of time, like Jim Shea said, and then you will need to fix it for good. It may swell the rubber, but it makes it weak in my opinion.