I have an '86 NA, and lately I've had to constantly add fluid to the power steering reservoir. I just noticed a stain forming in my driveway. The leak was too slow to notice a month ago but in the last couple of days I'll go 4-5 days before I need to add more fluid and if I park anywhere for more than a couple of hours there will be a baseball sized pool of PS fluid on the ground. It seems to only leak steadily after I've driven the car for a while, otherwise I don't see the drips.

The drip comes from underneath the big black iron reservoir where you would fill the PS fluid. Since there are no gaskets or connections on that solid part of the reservoir, the fluid is leaking from somewhere else and trickling its way down to the bottom edge of the round part of the reservoir. It only leaks when the reservoir is at a normal operating level, once it gets to a certain low level it will stop leaking. I've attached some screenshots which I spent a couple hours photoshopping. j/k about the photoshop part





Is this something I can tackle myself? Where should I start, and what should I be looking for?

 

First, get a can of brake clean and hose down the area. If it's clean, you'll be able to see where new PS fluid is coming from.

Are you sure it's coming from above the reservoir? There are crush washers and a threaded seal around the PS switch. Just look for the wires, and you'll see the area I mean. It's directly above the AC compressor, which also looks coated in PS fluid.