I was tracking my 1994 Lt1 this weekend and managed to crack the high pressure power steering line right at the pump - shot fluid everywhere, what a mess.

Does any one have any tricks on how to replace this line. It looks like removing the alternator to get at the pump side fiitting would be easiest. Access to the rack side looks tough, not quite sure how to get that at that end.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

This is a fairly common problem with tracked C4's. After having this happen a few times at the track, I started replacing the high pressure hose every 10 track days. The NAPA hose at about $50 does the job fine. DRM makes a better hose for $100 that other members claim fixes the problem.

You need a powersteering pulley puller/installer tool, I got mine for about $20 at autozone. To get the hoses off I just use a crows foot flare nut wrench and a rachet. Make sure you use a fllarenut wrench on the hose fittings, If you round off the one on the rack, it is a major job (pull the rack) to fix. With practice it takes less than an hour to do the swap.

The steps,

1) Jack up the front of the car and put a drain pan under the PS rack where the hoses attach.

2) From the top, use an 18mm crows foot flare nut (mactools makes a good one) with a 2 foot extension and pull the high pressure hose off the rack. The first time I did this it took a breaker bar and over 100 ftlbs of torque to break it loose. The fluid will drain down into the pan.

3) Use the PS pullley tool to remove the pulley and a crows foot flare nut wrench (I don't remember what size) to remove the high pressure hose off the pump.

4) At this point I usually cycle the steeering lock to lock several times to drain more of the old PS fluid into the drain pan.

5) Install the new High pressure hose on the rack and tighten. Be VERY careful that when tight, the fitting does not contact anything else like the rack or the low pressure hose.

6) Install the new hose on the PS pump and use the Pulley tool to reinstall the pulley.

7) Fill with fluid ( I use Redline synthetic PS fluid) and cycle the steering lock to lock 10 times and check fluid level. Top off and cycle the steering another 20 times and check fluid level again. Start the car and let it idle for a minute or so while slowly cycling the steering from lock to lock.

8) Drop the front end down and take it for a test drive.

Cheers

Lawrence

 

I've heard of this happening with several C4s on this forum.

Does the hose always break at the same place- on a METAL portion by the pump inlet? What has DRM done to their hose to solve this problem?

Thanks!

 

I don't know, you might try asking over in autocross/roadracing

Cheers,

Lawrence

 

Lawrence,

Thanks for the great response. I was debating having a dealer fix this, but with your input I think I will give it a try.

Have a good one.