88 steering box input shaft seal leaking

So I'm pretty deep in baja and my steering box just sprung a leak. A good leak. Like dripping every 2 seconds without any pressure on it. Spraying out with the engine on. I can order a part or seal kit or entire box through the only mechanic in town but it will be over two weeks to get it part trained down from Ensenada or the us. Would running it dry for a thousand plus miles of driving damage the box beyond repair or anything else? I could stay here for two weeks but I want to keep moving. I'm looking around the dead cars in town for a jeep or Durango to steal a box off but it's not looking good.

You'll kill the pump..........then no belt........no coolant........no engine.

In short order.

Lucas pump sealer will buy you a week or so...........take some extra fluid.

Lucas power steering leak sealer will help a lot, but it gets costly with a big leak. You should check the hoses and tubing to see if there is a return line restriction.
Mine was leaking with a new box (They are all rebuilts now, no new ones) from AutoZone. I used leak sealer for about year, about 3 quarts, and it is almost leak free now.

There are some recent online holiday free freight deals I have seen you should check out. Ebay used, Advanced, Autozone, Rock auto all ship UPS.

Oh, and do not let it run low or dry, it will make the pump permanently noisy as hell and even kill it.....

I think you guys missed it but I'm in baja right now. Aka. No autozone, no rock auto no any parts store. Everything has to be shipped via parts train down from San Diego. We had a big rain for this area and it messed up the Internet and it's super spotty for now.

Seeing as there is definitely no stop leak in town and no new parts, and I have a several hundred mile long journey back to the US if I don't go any further, can I just jump the steering lines from the pump to keep that flowing with the belt and just let the box run dry? Will that still give me manual steering or will the box seize up completely? I can get a small piece of tube and hose clamps to bypass the box and keep a closed circuit for the fluid coming off the pump.

Thanks guys.

You will burn up the pump if you run it dry for a long time. If you could get a shorter serpentine belt and take the pump out of the loop, you can drive with no assist. By the time you get home, you should have massive forearms.

old_man said:

You will burn up the pump if you run it dry for a long time. If you could get a shorter serpentine belt and take the pump out of the loop, you can drive with no assist. By the time you get home, you should have massive forearms.

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I see you joined here

He wants to know if he can bypass the gear box and run the outlet hose into the return hose of the PS pump and just let the PS fluid run in loop? I suspect the gear box would stop leaking and be OK, but would the fluid foam or would the pump be OK?

ljobbins,

You would need to seal off the box hose connections too or loop them or something to keep the box from running dry. If you do that, I would think the box leak would stop or slow due to no fluid pressure?

Old_man is the gear box expert IMHO.

old_man said:

You will burn up the pump if you run it dry for a long time. If you could get a shorter serpentine belt and take the pump out of the loop, you can drive with no assist. By the time you get home, you should have massive forearms.

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He is in the middle of Baja with no parts or parts stores, read his post on the location problem.

"I'm in baja right now. Aka. No autozone, no rock auto no any parts store. Everything has to be shipped via parts train down from San Diego."

Many chevy s10 have the same box if autozone site is correct.
Many other interchange vehicles too.

Let me find them and I will post them.

Good luck, sucks to be broke down, down there!!

Chevy impala 80 to 85. Caprice 80 to 93 el camino 80 to 87. Monte carlo 80 to 85. Looks like most your GM of that era will work if you can find a junk yard.

Ok thanks. Yeah I was looking into looping the outgoing and incoming hoses together for the pump to just keep fluid moving in a circle through the pump but I never thought of it foaming. As far as looking for another box I'll check around town here for one of those cars. The main problem is people find a way with enough time to find a use for everything so all the cars here are pretty stripped and all the cars running are Frankensteined with different parts and duck tape epoxy and hose clamps. One even has a water bottle he uses as a gas tank on the hood with a hand primer for a boat. He drives with one hand out the window pumping like mad to keep the car running. thanks guys

I bet parts scrounging in Cuba would be a real blast.

ljobbins said:

Ok thanks. Yeah I was looking into looping the outgoing and incoming hoses together for the pump to just keep fluid moving in a circle through the pump but I never thought of it foaming. As far as looking for another box I'll check around town here for one of those cars. The main problem is people find a way with enough time to find a use for everything so all the cars here are pretty stripped and all the cars running are Frankensteined with different parts and duck tape epoxy and hose clamps. One even has a water bottle he uses as a gas tank on the hood with a hand primer for a boat. He drives with one hand out the window pumping like mad to keep the car running. thanks guys

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Even if the fluid foams, I wouldn't worry because there is at least some lubrication. The pump isn't under a load so the need for tons of lubrication is lessened.

old_man said:

Even if the fluid foams, I wouldn't worry because there is at least some lubrication. The pump isn't under a load so the need for tons of lubrication is lessened.

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Good point. I was worried about possible foam, but not sure it would foam anyway. Foam is usually from trapped air when refilling the system with new parts.

With the hoses removed and no load on the pump, wont it just turn freely like a idler pulley?
It wont be pumping high pressure or more like build high pressure with the hoses off.

When you run a pump dry and are still trying to pump fluid thats when you build the heat correct?

:wow:I dont know just a thought.

He would be connecting the inlet and outlet hoses currently at the steering box to each other, by passing the steering box. Then he would plug the pipe threads on the steering box. The steering would no longer be power assist. It would be manual.

my2monkeys said:

With the hoses removed and no load on the pump, wont it just turn freely like a idler pulley?
It wont be pumping high pressure or more like build high pressure with the hoses off.

When you run a pump dry and are still trying to pump fluid thats when you build the heat correct?

:wow:I dont know just a thought.

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Ecomike said:

He would be connecting the inlet and outlet hoses currently at the steering box to each other, by passing the steering box. Then he would plug the pipe threads on the steering box. The steering would no longer be power assist. It would be manual.

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Understood, the point I was not clear on is with all the hosrs unhooked and the PS pump not pumping any fluid but still being driven by the belt, it wont have a bearing failure because there:read: is no load on it?

my2monkeys said:

Understood, the point I was not clear on is with all the hoses unhooked and the PS pump not pumping any fluid but still being driven by the belt, it wont have a bearing failure because there:read: is no load on it?

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Not exactly. The pump will still be pumping fluid, but in a circle through a wide open hose loop, almost zero resistance, thus no real load. I think the PS pump pumps no load normally, until one moves the steering wheel, then it creates a load. The point is as long as there is fluid in the pump it will be lubricated and thus not seize up.

Made it out of there. Here is a new one for me.

So on my way to town I ran into a guy with a Cherokee who had a flat. I helped him out with the flat and turns out he had a spare dead Cherokee at his house. I followed him there where we took out his steering box. The other xj was a spare parts dead one for his running xj. We took the box to the mechanic who I thought was going to swap his in for mine. Instead he takes the seal out of his and takes a blow dryer to it claiming it expands the old rubber and puts it in my box then says test it. I ran 20 or so miles hard steering and off-roading and hitting every bump I could find and voila no leaking. He said get it home but swap in a new seal ASAP. I tried to give the mechanic and the new friend a decent amount of money but they both declined so for all the work throughout several days the mechanic was happy with just 10 US dollars and the friend wanted me to buy him dinner next time I'm in town. I told the mechanic to order the new seal and put it in his old box so he would have a good spare. I guess my seal was too wrapped to blow dry fix but his was still good.

So far I'm about 500 miles into my drive north with a minor amount of seepage and no real leaking from the box. Incredible people and incredible bandaid fix from the people of Mexico once again. Thanks baja. And thanks Naxja.