2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Major PS fluid leak

[JL penner]

This morning I got started the truck up and walked back into the house. As I passed the front of the truck something caught my attention on the ground. Power steering fluid was DRAINING out and creating quite a large puddle on the driveway (it's a dirt driveway, so no cleanup)!!!! I backed the truck up a little and turned the wheel a couple of times. Then I topped off the fluid with Valvoline synthetic. No more leak! What gives? Why a sudden major leak, then an easy fix? I am completely lost as to what could cause this. How could a seal be bad, then repair itself?



Please help me out with this brain teaser!



JL

 

[JL penner]

Bump... ... ...

 

[WestTN]

Sounds like trhe` pressurized accumulator is now d-pressurized. You need to get this fixed.

 

[JL penner]

So does that have anything to do with the flux capacitor??? lol... . Do I need to take it in, replace the whole steering box, or is there an easy fix for this?

 

[jrobinson2]

The nitrogen accumulator for the brake booster fails and fills the fluid with bubbles and overflows the pump resevor, after the bubbles disperse the fluid will be low. Check the accumulator by pumping the brakes with the engine running, and then again with the engine off. The power brakes should work for a few pumps with the engine off before the pedel gets hard. If you change the fluid to get rid of the bubbles the only problem with running the truck is you wont have power brakes if the engine stops.



Jared

 

[JL penner]

so I need to replace the nitrogen accumulator then right? That's the blue thing sitting next to the brake boost correct?



Thanks,

JL

 

[jrobinson2]

Yes the blue cylinder, you might try here for parts:

http://www.hydroboost.com/

 

[JL penner]

I'm not having any luck with finding a replacement part or rebuild kit. From what I've found searching through forums, it doesn't hurt to have a bad accumulator, it just pukes all your ps fluid out every now and then, and you won't have any brakes if the motor dies.



I read on some of the other threads that the rebuild kit is the same as Chevys. Does anyone know what years?





thanks,

JL

 

[jrobinson2]

The fluid puking should be a one time deal, once its blown its done.



Someone on this site sourced a rebuild kit a few years ago, I'll look through my notes later tonight...



I ran mine over a year after it blew with no problems at all after I changed the fluid, before I changed the fluid it would make a lot of noise cold and sometimes no power steering or brakes for a short time on a cold startup.



Jared

 

[JL penner]

okay, it did it again! Exact same symptom. Is is possible for the accumulator to refill, then puke everything out again?

 

[GFrance]

JL penner

I went through that with my 01. I took the hydraboost off & sent it to Brake systems inc. in Portland Or. They rebuilt it along with the accumulator. The whole thing rebuilt & shipping cost me $229. 00 the turn around time 2 days. The dealer wanted $610. 00 & I belive it's a star part only because I looked all over the parts wharehouses for a rebuild with no luck. If you do the job yourself besure & bleed the power steering system for now it is contaminated with nitrogen & can ruin your steering pump. Also will need to bleed any air out of your brake master cylinder because it has to be removed to do the job.

Good luck & I hope this helps.



Glenn

 

[Dave M]

It looks like you need to replace your hydroboost unit (the blue can is part of it). I got mine from www.hydroboost.com (Hyratech Braking Inc. . ) as was mentioned before. The unit for my 97 was $275 last year. The good thing is that it is NEW not REBUILT! You can have problems with rebuilts not working if the unit had scored cylinders inside.



The bad news is you have to send your hydroboost unit in with the firewall mounting plate, the special mc pushrod, or the brake pedal rod attached. They will transfer these components onto your replacement unit and ship it back to you. No!... you can not transfer them parts yourself (I asked) cause it takes specilized equipment. Paul at Hydratech was very good to work with and will answer any questions for you... I emailed back and forth. Email him and find out.



You don't have to touch your brakes. I left the brake myster cylinder lines connected and just unbolted it from the hydroboost unit and left it hanging. All I needed to do was add more fluid (I used synthetic Redline from NAPA). Jack up the truck and go lock to lock about 20 times with engine running. Then shut down remove the return line and turn engine on to pump out some fliud into a pan, then refill and repeat. Thats how I transfer sythetic fluid from the regular fluid. I added about 3-4 quarts of fluid til it was all mixed.



Good luck,



Dave

 

[.44 mag]

I've been driving mine about two years now with a blown accumulator I guess. My truck did just what yours did. One day fluid was all over the drive when I went outside. I couldn't see a leak, so I just topped it off and went on my way. About a week or so later it did it again. I had heard that the whole brake unit needed to be replaced to the tune of about $1000. This was just after the 30k mi. warranty was up, so I've let it go.



What's the down side to running it like this? Sounds like it might be cheaper to fix than I had thought.





Thanks!