steering box possibly leaking...

ok, i drove the truck home for thanksgiving so i could work on some suspension/alignment probs i was having with the RE drop brackets. well while i was workin on the front suspension, i unlocked the steering wheel, so i could manually turn the tires back and forth. well as i was working, i noticed some type of fuild dripping and running down the trackbar. i believe its power steering fluid. once i got the truck off the jack stands, so i could take a look to see if a fitting was leaking, all the fittings and hoses are find, top of the box is dry, it appears to be leaking some where undernieth. i guess a seal starting leaking.. just seems weird to starting leaking like that while not even driving it. havent been able to look at it any more, bc of turkey day and its raining today. once the weather clears up, i am going to pull down the factory rubber splash guard, so i can take a better look at the underside of the steering box.

anyone have any ideas or had this happen to you.. i am hoping a
seal is just leaking an i can easily replace it.

joe m

Don´t think I´ve ever seen an early XJ (pre 91) that didn´t leak or seep from the tranny cooler lines at the connectors (under/behind the radiator). They may have fixed it in 91, but worth a look anyway. Where the tranny cooler lines run across the top of the steering box, early models would often rub. Have seen the return line for the power steering, chaff on occasion.

i just check all the tranny lines, and the power steering lines and fittings, all seem fine. i think that because i was turning the tires back and forth with the motor off, the build up of fluid pressure inside the box let the fluid push out the input shaft seal.

where the fluild was puddling up on the spash guard was right under the input shaft on the steering box. i think im just going to run it around and see if it continues to leak or stops.

it only started leaking when i was turning the steering manually, and didnt leak just sitting there.

I had some leaking from that area and just couldn't find the source. That is until I had my 4 year old turn the steering wheel while it was running. Whoa Nelly! The pressurized power steering hose was leaking out of about 5 different spots on the hose itself. The damn hose was just flat worn out and degraded. Check for abnormalities in the hose. Just my .02.

P.S. This belongs in OEM Tech.