Larimer

What's the best way to get to the fitting on the rack for the power steering pressure line (U shaped line between the engine and engine cradle on the bottom of the car near the oil pan. Runs to the PS pump on one end and the rack on the other)? There's pretty much no clearance anywhere and I'm struggling to find the best way to get at it. Current thought is to disconnect the solenoid/steering gear (part that goes into the rack with a couple wires) and see if I can get it from the driver's wheel well. Any thoughts? I've got the GM service manual but it just says to simply undo the fitting which isn't really helping.

Attached pics of hose and the fitting in question.

Larimer

I guess I'm the only lucky one that's had to deal with this. I'll give it another shot again today and post back if I figure it out.

NeverSatisfied02

iTrader: (12)

Its a major pain in the ***. I had a buddy swap that line for me at his shop on my old car because it was too difficult to see without a lift. Im sure you can get it yourself but it'll take some time and patience.

Larimer

I've turned the PS gear about a billion times and can't seem to get it off and don't want to break it. Ugh, never do this job, take it to a dealer. I think it's only 1-2 hrs labor for them supposedly.

Larimer

Stuck, again. I took the front sway bar out, but am having trouble getting the line off still. There's the steering solenoid/gear sensor (whatever it's called) in the way, which I've turned counter clockwise about a billion times to no avail. Anybody know how to get this thing out? I don't think I can turn it anymore and make any progress that way, and it has to come out to get at that fitting.







Taking the sway out gave more room to work but the angle still isn't good. Unless of course I had an open end 17mm? (can't tell yet, new line is 17 but it's from Autozone) that was bent at an angle to the wrench. Kind of like how my box end craftsman combination wrenches are. Do these exist?

RockyBalboa

Well, this is a really old thread but I just ordered the pressure line since mine is leaking.

From what I've read this is really a pain in the *** to replace and I have a lot of stress ahead.

Naf

iTrader: (1)

Well if you remove the engine, its soo easy...

Scope it out, find the best route to remove the hose. It would be wise to remove the front two wheels and plastic covers. This way you have access from the sides and bottom if needed.

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

FYI...after 30k miles, my replacement is leaking as bad as the one I took off

Sssnake

Remove the sway bar and the drivers side front tire. Then use a swivel headed wrench or one with an angle (don't use a perfectly flat wrench) coming in from the front of the car and looking in from the tire well. This worked OK for me but took about 2 minutes to get the old one off and about three to get the new one on. The hardest part about getting the new one on was getting it started. Use the rigid portion of the hose to control the alignment of the threaded sleeve. Recent replacement but no leaks so far. Make sure you get the o ring situated correctly.

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

I did mine when I was doing the motor mounts which made it easy.

RockyBalboa

Thanks for the input Sssnake.

I'll be replacing mine soon and will report back the level of difficulty. (even though this sounds pretty painless coming from your response).

kingtal0n

iTrader: (1)

When I had a power steering fitting/line failure, First I tried a new line. After 2 hours in the muddy earth under the car I realize the threads on the rack were gone. I tried tapping it up a size and made things worse. So, using a tig welder, I welded on a 6AN aluminum fitting, directly to my Aluminum rack, and used a typical 6an line for the high pressure side. I made sure to have the fitting welded in such a way to make access easy.

As a side note, the OEM banjo bolt (on some engines, maybe not yours, idk) has a restrictor/restriction in it, so when I went to the NON-restricted 6AN line, the pressure seemed too high (the pump acted funny, complained sometimes, I was worried about it) so I am now looking for a way to add in a restriction to my line, something to keep in mind if you do replace the OEM line/bolts with something else.

JEFFCTSVMANW

attempting this this evening, will post some pics

ls1247

iTrader: (2)

Go to harbor freight and buy a cheap set of metric crows feet and a loooong extension. There’s a perfect shot to the hose fitting on the steering rack working from under the hood. Rent the ps pump pulley puller from Advance, remove the pulley and then the pump and you’ll have a straight shot at that fitting.

threading it is another story but at least you can get the old one off and tighten the new one easy enough.

JEFFCTSVMANW

thanks!