power steering cap

hey all,

the top of my power steering reservoir cap has a small hole that i assume is a pressure relief hole, and after a recent wheelin trip, the cap was wet, and so was the side of the air box, the fluid was clear and almost odorless, like power steering fluid. is this a pressure release cap, or does it need to be replaced?

-Tim

jeepnuts311 said:

hey all,

the top of my power steering reservoir cap has a small hole that i assume is a pressure relief hole, and after a recent wheelin trip, the cap was wet, and so was the side of the air box, the fluid was clear and almost odorless, like power steering fluid. is this a pressure release cap, or does it need to be replaced?

-Tim

Click to expand...

Sounds like your fluid got hot. Keep an eye on it, and see if it wouldn't be worthwhile to install a small fluid cooler (a two-pass should be sufficient - there's no clutches in there.)

5-90

was it overfull perhaps? is the cap supposed to relieve the pressure, or did i bust a seal/ crack the cap? doesnt look cracked tho.

-Tim

my power steering cap somehow found it's way into my pocket at the junkyard

When it does work, hydraulic fluid heats up. And, even with the inherent incompressibility of liquids, the pump still tries to compress (which is how it makes pressure...) and anything that gets pressure put on it will heat up - the energy has to do something.

I can't know if it was overfull without looking at it myself, but I'd say to clean the thing up and watch it - power steering fluid coolers are sold for a reason, y'know...

5-90

A small cooler can be found on a ford exploder,ford mounted it on the crossmember under the engine and in a collision it was one of the first things to get damaged.Had to look thru several junkers at the yard before I found one that would work,mount was bent but hoses& fins were ok.Mounted on XJ fenderwell with no problem even used the stock return hose to reach cooler only needed new hose to run from cooler to pump.
Wayne