loss of power steering and brakes

[Boonieman]

I was coming home from fishing and noticed the steering getting harder and harder. I looked under the truck and oil was everywhere, which turns out to be something from the power steering unit. I had no choice but to drive the truck on home, but by the time I got there I had no power steering. . AND no brakes. Plenty of brake pedal, but the truck barely slowed no matter how hard I pushed. I had to use the emerg brake to get the rest of the way home. I haven't looked at it closely yet because it's getting dark, but does the power steering have anything to do with the brakes, or did I just amazingly lose both at the same time? Thanks for any advice before I start working on it tomorrow.

 

[GFrance]

If the 03 is like the 01 you lost your hydra boost. There should be a little blue bottle under the hydra boost that is filled with nitrogen & if it has discharged it will fill your power steering resivoir & overflow it. Check & see if the oil is comming out the filler cap of the resivoir. If thats the case you will have to replace the hydra boost $610. 00 dealer part only. I had mine rebuilt at Brake Systems inc. in Portland Oregon for $ 178. 00. I took it off shipped it to them & had it back in 2 days.



The hydra boost works for your power brakes & power steering.

 

[rbattelle]

As GFrance points out, a loss of power steering fluid will result in a loss of brake boost. What exactly broke could range from a P/S hose leak to the hydroboost itself to the nitrogen canister.



Let us know what it turns out to be.



-Ryan

 

[GWBourne]

yes, its a hydra boost system. since diesels do not generate vacume you cant have a vacume booster without having a vacume pump on the engine. so instead of adding another power drawing pump some smart person came up with hydra boost. all big three and maybe more have a version of it. all works the same. costly when something goes wrong though... .

grant

 

[Boonieman]

Boy, do I feel dumb. I knew diesels didnt create their own vacuum, but obviously I'm going to learn way more than I ever wanted to know about hydra boost systems. I'm just now having my coffee this morning and not checked it yet. I do know when I removed the power steering pump cap yesterday to check the fluid it released a lot of pressure, which must have been the nitrogen. If I had a hose leak and lost fluid for example, would the nitrogen canister have discharged? I guess I'm going to have to do more research into this before I just start dropping parts off all over the garage. Thanks much for pointing me in the right direction, and I will advise what I find out.



Danny

 

[Hercules130]

Sounds like the accumulator has in internal leak.

 

[Boonieman]

I found the leak. The flared end on the hose was cracked where it's screwed into the pump. The aggrivating thing is that this is the hose that was replaced August '04 before my warrantee went out on a TSB for the vibration issue on the '03's and it has a dampener on it. I probably would have been better off to have kept the original factory hose. I figure the high intensity vibration from the pump is the culprit, but I'm only guessing. I wont get the new hose until tomorrow and then I'll stick it on. Hopefully nothing else got damaged. The other weird thing is that the part number on the hose I took off is the original part number. When I called to order the hose from the dealer, they said the part number had changed. I looked at my repair order from when I took it to the dealer for the TSB and it said a hose was installed, and it referenced the NEW part number and said they installed it. It kinda looks like they didnt install a new hose per the TSB, only glued on a dampener weight, but I can't prove it. Oh well, I mainly hope this post might help some reader somewhere beware that if you're going on a long trip on remote roads you might get some spare steering fluid and take it with you. I've had a CTD since 2000 and didnt know if I lost power steering fluid I'd lose brakes too. No mention of that in the owners manual anywhere. And the fluid you need... . which is Type +4... . which you can only buy... guess where? Yep, Mopar. NAPA told me Chrysler has not yet released this to the aftermarket. I had to buy Type III and put some magic additive in it to make Type +4. Two quarts of Type III plus the additive = $19. 86

 

[rbattelle]

I'm very glad to hear it was just a hose. Yeah, it stinks that it went bad, but better a hose than a pump or steering gear or hydroboost unit. Sounds to me like the overtightened it when they put on the new hose, but the part number discrepancy is very strange.



-Ryan

 

[GFrance]

Glad to here it turned out to be a simple inexpensive fix.

 

[Texasrattler]

Boonieman,



At the dealer, ATF+4 is only $4 and change a quart. I paid $16 for a gallon.

Your orignal hose repair is under warranty for a year. Did you exceed this?



Good luck

Pete

 

[Boonieman]

Yeah, actually when I picked up the new hose I got a couple quarts of ATF+4 and it was $3. 65, so I really got ripped off at NAPA. Also, when the new hose came in the numbers on it were the same as the bad one that came off the truck, so it turns out they actually did change the hose just like they said. I did apologize to the service manager for accusing them of not changing it in the first place. I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong. The hose was under a one year warranty and failed 4 days after the warranty expired... go figure. I installed the hose and everything now works fine, brakes and all. I went over 50 miles with no fluid in the power steering pump, so I'm shocked it didnt burn up. It may have shortened the life of it, but for now it seems fine. The advice and pointers on this forum is well worth the cost of belonging in my opinion. I fixed the problem myself for right at $50 (excluding the NAPA debacle) and I wouldn't have done that without being pointed in the right direction.

 

[jimnance]

I had the exact same thing happen on my '03 with less than 10,000 miles on the odometer. I got lucky and it happened in the driveway as I was backing my fiver in. Hydraulic fluid everywhere! That's when I found out how important the hydraulic system is on our CTD's.

 

[DPKetchum]

Only 4 days OUT! D. C. would have warrantied that hose usually with NO problem. Service Manager should have taken care of it parts and labor! he has the authority to do so.

 

[BRayls]

Only 4 days OUT! D. C. would have warrantied that hose usually with NO problem. Service Manager should have taken care of it parts and labor! he has the authority to do so.

I would have to agree.