My 1975 Mercury Comet straight 6 is leaking power steering fluid from what seems to be every hose attached to the system. I find it hard to believe that every single hose would go bad at the same time, what could be causing this? Thanks for any help.
IF one is bad, I'd change them all, leaking or not. Who knows how long they'll be available. Good time to take a careful look at the control valve and ram too. So far I haven't had to work on the control valve or pump. Everything else has been changed. Also a good time to consider manual steering.
The hoses all cracked due to age.. not that hard to believe as they are all 40 year old and installed at the same time. I might be wrong, usually am when it comes to these things. I was going to convert mine to a power steering until some helpful member here pointed out how you have to fix them every 6-12 months. And how much more fun manual steering was.
So the pump or cylinder being bad wouldn't push the fluid out somehow? I guess it's a trip to the tubes and hose shop for me then. Thanks!
You might check rockauto.com to see if they have some or all of your hoses. Might be cheaper than custom made.
I also converted to manual steering. Bad enough I have to mop up a leaky transmission, I didn't want to mop up power steering fluid as well.
my 72 has power steering. It's alright to drive if you like being able to turn the wheel a 1/4 turn without the car nosing to one side or the other. 74 has manual steering and its awesome. I'd convert to manual if I were you.
I had this happen with the power steering on the boat. It was leaking from all hoses, until one day it decided to start blowing off the main line repeatedly. After some head scratching and a few gallons of blood and sweat, it turned out to be a bad steering fluid cooler. The cooler was blocked up with sediment, causing the backpressure to build up so much it leaked from the hoses and blew off the main line - clamp and all. Those are low pressure lines and not meant to carry the psi that builds up from a line blockage. I would check that out as well as all other lines. Disconnect and blow through them to see if they are all clear under low pressure. Or, convert to a manual system
