A while back, I noticed that there was an oil stain on the gravel in my carport where I park the van. I found the (slow) leak. Didn't know what it was, but the hose clamped to a small radiator in front of the AC "radiator" (which is in front of the regular radiator) was leaking at the clamp.
If you look through the PM grill, you'll see the small cooler (looks like a bottle brush) with two hoses (in and out). It's the power steering cooler.... and the hose attached to mine was leaking.
I thought about a DIY project but decided on our local mechanic. Research suggested a replacement of the power steering tubing/hose assembly would be about $500 in parts, plus a lot of labor. Our local mechanic discovered that there are two 1 foot hoses with clamps between the tubing behind the bumper and the "cooler." That's all that needs fixing. Easy to access by removing only the front bumper parts, and that's easy!
So that was the plan... Order the right high pressure hose, replace hoses, and clamp. They did it... and it leaked at the cooler tubing end. So they tried double clamping the hose.... still leaked.
Come to discover that.... the tubing on one end of the hose is one diameter and the tubing on the cooler is a different diameter. So RAM installed two high pressure power steering hoses that are bound to leak! (CHECK YOURS)
RAM doesn't offer replacement hoses (probably about $10), but they do sell the complete hose assembly (which requires taking a whole lot of stuff apart to get the replacements in)
We're now trying to come up with a plan to replace the hoses and clamps, but not sure how to get it to work!
Odds are pretty good that no one makes a short, high pressure hose with different inside diameters on each end.
AAARRRGGGGHHH!
If you look through the PM grill, you'll see the small cooler (looks like a bottle brush) with two hoses (in and out). It's the power steering cooler.... and the hose attached to mine was leaking.
I thought about a DIY project but decided on our local mechanic. Research suggested a replacement of the power steering tubing/hose assembly would be about $500 in parts, plus a lot of labor. Our local mechanic discovered that there are two 1 foot hoses with clamps between the tubing behind the bumper and the "cooler." That's all that needs fixing. Easy to access by removing only the front bumper parts, and that's easy!
So that was the plan... Order the right high pressure hose, replace hoses, and clamp. They did it... and it leaked at the cooler tubing end. So they tried double clamping the hose.... still leaked.
Come to discover that.... the tubing on one end of the hose is one diameter and the tubing on the cooler is a different diameter. So RAM installed two high pressure power steering hoses that are bound to leak! (CHECK YOURS)
RAM doesn't offer replacement hoses (probably about $10), but they do sell the complete hose assembly (which requires taking a whole lot of stuff apart to get the replacements in)
We're now trying to come up with a plan to replace the hoses and clamps, but not sure how to get it to work!
Odds are pretty good that no one makes a short, high pressure hose with different inside diameters on each end.
AAARRRGGGGHHH!
