Another Disco steering thread..

[Tins]

Hi folks.
My young blokes S1 300 Tdi has just done something weird with the power steering. It lost it's fluid, and mostly it seems to be coming out via the filler cap. When I topped it up, it did the same, with lots of little bubbles, like the pump is cavitating. I'm a bit ( lot ) deaf, but I can hear loud clicking sounds coming from the direction of the pump, but there's so much else there that could be causing the noise, I'm unsure. Is there a history of pump failures on these? It's been 'round the block a couple of times, so if they go, that's probably it.

[lewy]

loosen the fan belt and grap the pulley on the pump to see if there is movement in any direction,the fluid usually leaks out around the shaft if the pump is u.s,sounds like the pump has air in it,has it been run dry and developed an airlock when topped up,are you using the correct oil.check the return hose between the pump and resiovior for a kink,

[Tins]

Thans, Lewy. Yep, the pump was dry. I was topping it up to see where the leak was.

[Tins]

I'll add: the car lost power steering suddenly. Sure, a slow leak of fluid could cause this if you weren't paying attention, but when I came to se the car, it had a pool of red oil under it, but there was no previous evidence of a leak that I'm aware of, if checking out where it usually parks is anything to go by. I'll go back there and do what Lewy suggests with the belt, but the pump itself is dry, i.e. no sign of oil ( fresh oil, that is; it is, after all, a Land Rover! ) from the pump at all. Plenty of oil on the hoses from the reservoir, and the oil on the ground is directly below there. This was why I suspected the hose(s) here in the first place. It is the noise that makes me worried about the pump. I suppose I should take the belt off completely, and run the engine ( briefly, no water pump) and see if the noise goes away. My hearing loss makes this sort of thing problematic.

[clubagreenie]

Not sure if it's the same but I had a leak in my pump on a V8D2. After replacing every hose and line on both PS & ACE where it could be coming from turned out the back cover of the pump was cracked (cast alloy). Couldn't repair or replace cover only so had to get a new pump.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i had the same problem with my td5 fender.......it was aerating the fluid......and is was slowly bubbling out the reservior......but no leaks anywhere......

i thought if the front seal on the pump was stuffed....it should be leaking oil through there.....but it was all dry......this is what threw me.......

when i pulled the belt off......i noticed how much movement was in the pulley shaft.....the bearing had collapsed.....and it was sucking air in through the seal.....
but not a drop was leaking out..........

i replaced the pump.......not a hard job on mine......and its been fine ever since......

[lewy]

on my 93 disco there is two steel pipes running to the steering box just under the radiator,both mine have rubbed through and been replaced by full length rubber hoses,also the seal at the bottom the steering box can leak,but i would start by giving the pump pulley a good wriggly first.

[Tins]

Ok, so it sounds like it's the pump. I will get over there soon and check it out. Thanks for the replies.