Chaos07

ok so i start smelling something inside ny car it kinda smells caramely, and plus my battery gauge is reading in the yellow and its usually past. my car does have a lot of miles n the engine looks like its got a leak around the heads. i was thinking msybes the alternator or just replace the head gsskets

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

I would get a gallon of Formula 88 (degreaser) from Home Depot or Advance Auto and seriously clean the entire engine and engine bay.

Then make sure you don't have power steering fluid dripping onto the alternator. It'll trash the alternator pretty quick and smell as well.......
If it is power steering fluid dripping onto the alternator.......get a can of WD-40 or SeaFoam spray..............and completely drench the alternator, inside, outside, everywhere, use the entire can till the crap starts dripping off. You'll need to break up all that crap in there. Let it sit for an hour. Tyhen rinse with a hose real good. You can spray the hell out of it with the hose, it can't hurt anything. I did it when mine got pissed all over and was totally coated in power steering fluid......WD-40 completely cleaned it and its been fine for 5 years.

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Chaos07

alright cuz i do notice gthat my power steering pump does leak a good amout i have to add a little bit every month or so one time it was completly below the dipstick haha, but ya ill do that thanks for the into man really appreciated.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Get on it, you can still save that alternator.

Go get a 4 foot piece of 3/8" heater hose from the auto parts store to replace the leaking hose. Most likely its the hose thats attached to the port on the bottom of the power steering reservoir. It runs to either the rack or to the factory power steering fluid cooler (if you have that).

If its a high pressure line, you'll have to order it. Very easy to remove it and install the new one. Just have to pop the serpentine belt off first. They cost about $35.00 from PepBoys or Advance Auto. I think I got mine from Advance Auto about 6 months ago.

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Chaos07

ok i looked up on autozone.com and the pressure line is like 30 bucks but you have to order it and the heater hose is there but it looks like its pre bent or something.

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

Your alternator is probably dying. Your best bet it to drive to the autoparts store and let them test it on the car. Get a NEW alternator, not a reman. Test your battery too because sometimes a dying alternator can take the battery with it, especially if it's older. Watch the plug on the back of the alternator. It's fragile. Very very very fragile. Unplug that before you unplug or unbolt anything else and move it safely out of the way. Otherwise you're gonna forget and rip it.

Also, do yourself a big favor. Check the power steering hoses and reservoir. It may be leaking. check the bottom/side first and see how far down any fluid has traveled. If it's oily or grimy, your reservoir may have helped destroy your alternator. You have 2 options.

1, weekly pop the hood, take clean paper towels/rags/whatever and wipe the reservoir down especially around the cap. Keep up on that and you should be fine.

2, buy a pack of hair scrunchies and put one around/under the installed power steering cap. That'll suck up fluid. Replace them as needed.

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

If the alternator is already showing death signs by not putting out enough power, I can't see how anything short of replacing or rebuilding it could save it. You do need to fix the power steering leak though.

Chaos07

ill clean it up a bit with that formula 88 stuff, and then ill take some pics of the PS pump and place em on here for yall to see

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

Take before and after pics. Seeing how it looks now can tell a lot. Close up pictures will work even better.

Chaos07

ok that sounds good after having 175K miles its probably about that time to replace it. I dont know what happend to the engine repairs or maintance since before i had it. soo yeah ill do that clean it up and take pics before and after

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

What heater hose?

Do you mean the low pressure hose?

and let me clarify.......if you have a factory PS fluid cooler (metal pipe in the picture below) you can just buy some 3/8" heater hose...attach to the port on the reservoir and then to the cooler port.
If you don't have the cooler........you need to buy the molded rubber/metal hose.

Hopefully the reservoir isn't cracked.

And the 3/8" heater hose I'm talking about is bought by the foot from the reel.

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LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Just remember...if your alternator is covered with PS fluid....you can clean it off and the alternator can...it might....100% come back to normal. The fluid draggeds it down and kills its ability to put out power. But it will not hurt it unless you leave it that for too long. Mine was covered for a couple weeks. Can't remember what, if any, power issues I had. Many people have cleaned them with WD-40 or even brake cleaner and they save them.

When I cleaned mine with WD-40 the black nasty puddle under my car was 2 foot in doameter, all PS fluid that was caked onto it.

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Chaos07

ill post up pics of the underside of the car tomorrow, everytime i do change my oil the bottom of the engine has like an oily residue on it and the right side the rack n pinion is all oily also...there is a leak somewhere but not enough to where im losing quarts of oil. but ill def check the ps pump lines and clean it off with the formula 88 and wd-40

Chaos07

if i need to replace that hose, how would i go about bending it, or are you tlkin about those 2 smaller hoses going into the metal thing? if thats the case i wouldnt have to bend them correct?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Do you have that power steering cooler?

One of the hoses goes to the rack and the other end of that line is metal. The other one goes to the bottom of the reservoir and the entire hose is rubber.

If you have the cooler.....this is great time to spend $40.00 and get rid of it and put an aftermarket cooler on the car. The factory coolers don't cool, they are complete garbage, and one day, like mine did, it will leak power steering cooler into your radiator and muck up your cooling system.

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LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Do yourself a favor and make your power steering pump last longer...and no more worry about WHEN your power steering cooler will spring a leak.

Check this out...there's a couple options to do. It will cost about $40.00 in parts and literally 15-20 minutes of work with just a philips screwdriver and razor knife.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...g+fluid+cooler

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Chaos07

ill check tomorrow or thursday to see if i have it, thats a great little thing though. easy to do and cheap. but ill definitly be cleaning up the engine bay and alt. for sure

Chaos07

if i do have the cooler how would i go about installing it...like take off what and block off where or anything like that.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

If you have it.....simply remove that entire metal/rubber upper radiator hose. Take a razor knife and cut both rubber hoses near the two ports on the cooler pipe. Throw it all away...or keep it.
Then you go to the parts store and get an upper radiator hose...but tell the parts guy you need the one without the PS fluid cooler. He will then hand you a complete and total one piece rubber hose. Thats it, then you clamp it on to the radiator and water pump.

Buy one bottle of power steering fluid.

Also at the store pick up any 4 channel cooler (or whatever type of cooler you like) like you see in my pictures and zip tie it to the frame. Then take those two ends that you cut off the pipe and clamp them to the new cooler. ((I personally bought a new 4 foot piece of 3/8" heater hose and replaced the hose coming off the bottom port of the reservoir. The hose coming from the rack is a specially made part, no need to replace it unless its leaking)).
Start the engine, turn the wheel a little bit left and right, then top off the PS fluid.
Done.

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Chaos07

niiiice ill look under the car to see if i do or not, i ended up replaceing the alternator and the smell is gone and the volt gauge is up and normal. i used a whole can of degreaser and i still have some spots to clean on the engine haha DIRTY!!! No One here carries formula 88 either. and if i dont have the ps cooler ill go ahead and buy the cooler and 3/8's hose n hook it up.