sbmellen

Question: How hard is it to completely diagnose power steering leaks and completely replace the reservoir plus the lines?

Reason I'm asking is that the reservoir was almost on empty and I replaced enough mineral oil to get it up back to MAX on the stick; how difficult is it to replace both the reservoir (if that is the culprit) or, additionally, the lines?

Leaking I've found looks like it is dripping down the lines from the reservoir right now, but I'm uncertain whether this will be the complete culprit.

@wesome

the tank is held on by one 10mm bolt iirc
easy to swap

the actual lines going to the rack = a pain + money

Check your power steering cooler. That's the "usual" culprit.

Another thing to check would be the rack seals themselves. You just poke a pinhole in the boot by the inner tie rod and give it a squeeze. See if any fluid comes out. If fluid does, your rack seals are gone.

But check the line going from the resevoir to the cooler. The clamps audi uses give up

Reggie

camp and the cured the leak

Romaudi

yes

artemm

What's a good strategy to avoid getting PS fluid everywhere?

sbmellen

OK, thx. Can do that!

Reggie

and take the car to a self spray place afterward to wash the engine bay.