Grrrr... leaking ACE

[Turtle61]

Last Wednesday night while taking a corner the ACER lights went off FLASHING RED and beeping at me. User manual says stop and seek a mechanic. Being close to home I stopped at home. Stopped engine, restarted. All lights good. ACE check passed - no red or yellow light. Then I checked the ACE fluid - low. Topped up.
Drove to work (all of 2km but wife's pregnant so couldn't walk) and noticed a puddle of ACE fluid below the front ram and fair bit of splatter in the engine bay. Bugger. Topped fluid up to ensure the pump doesn't run dry and got the D2A to Graeme Cooper.
As I thought - busted pipe. As it turns out one of the front ram flexible hoses burst while the other wasn't far off - at least it was something 'easy' to fix - pump didn't run dry, everything else was fine. All fixed. System flushed. Happy again.
Note to myself: get ALL high pressure hoses checked next service.
Lesson: if ACE leaks make sure pump doesn't run dry.
Bright side of life: I know where the ACE system is and what the blinking lights mean and I had no trouble with this car in the last 3 months at least ;)

[Trippy]

Thanks for sharing. I have a small leak in one of the power steering high pressure hoses. Is the ACE and PAS connected since they use the same reservoir? Will a leak in one system affect the other?

[Turtle61]

Not at all. PAS and ACE share the same reservoir however it has two separate compartments: one for ACE the other PAS so the systems are not connected. Having just had the experience go high pressure hose burst I suggest you get them replaced before it's too late especially since they are ageing now. The hoses weren't that pricy so better be safe than sorry.

Hope this helps

T61

[camel_landy]

...and when they let go, due to the high pressure, it can be quite spectacular. :o (it can also cause a fire!)

M

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I wonder if it was an upgraded hose that burst?