Power steering overflow after auto-X
 

Has anyone ever gotten there power steering fluid so hot it overflowed and sprayed all over the engine? I am pretty sure this happened to me yesterday while racing.

I ran 3-4 runs right in a row (hot laps), and after about the 3rd lap the steering started to moan. I poped the hood after the hot laps and I saw power steering fluid was sprayed everywhere. It even made it as far back as the oil filter.

I was really working the steering hard. There were quite a few turns where I had to work the wheel just to keep the car straight (I love oversteer :) )

I couldn't find any leaks after the car cooled back down, and as soon as the car ran for a while the moan while turning went away.

Has this happened to anyone else?

-Mike
-1993 FD R1

I have never heard of this on an FD, but I know our local F-body guys "burp" their power steering after every run as they are prone to rupture.

My car has seen dozens and dozens of events in Texas heat and I have never had a power steering problem.

Yeah, I've got an F-body, and we always have trouble with PS (at least until we run a cooler).

I ususally run the PS fluid at the fill mark in the Trans Am, allows the fluid room to expand as it heats up.

On my FC, I use manual steering. Once bitten twice shy :)

P

Yo,


Mikey, my GTUs did the same thing at Thunderhill Raceway. I was freaking out, I thought it was motor oil and I had blown sh*t up. But nope, just PS fluid. I cut off some fingers to a rubber glove, and made a condom that fit over the filler neck. Put a zip tie on it and no problem! It was about 130 degrees on the track and I was at 6000-8200rpm for 20-30 minutes. If that was the only thing that went wrong...I'm okay with that.

*grin*

KS
1989 GTUs "Cleanup was fun after..."

I've noticed it 'boiling' up and leaking out on top of the reservoir. I've seen this on a couple other FD's while auto-xing in the dead of the Texas heat. I believe that it's not uncommon. I've done practice meets at A&M where I run several runs all within minutes of each other for over an hour ... never noticed anything other than the 'leaking'. I've never seen the PS at the point it was spraying all over the engine bay.

Also, moan from the power steering? Are you sure that's where it was coming from? I'll occasionally hear the moo from the blow-off valve trying to downshift into a pivot turn ... but that's about it for noises. :confused:

Thanks for the posts.

It was definitely moan from the PS pump. It was doing it after I had pulled off and was just tooling around to cool the car down. It was probably due to air that got into the system after being tossed around quite a bit. The air worked itself out after just driving it for a little while.

I will keep an eye on it. It sounds like there may be something else going on other than just an overflow. I haven't seen any leaks driving it on the street. Not yet anyway. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Oh btw. If I can find a site to post it on, there is this awesome video that my friend took of me drifting all the way around a long sweeper. The video is awesome until it shows me spinning out 3 turns later...

If you were at Great Lakes Crossing my friend saw you there:). We have a MI rotary club and you are welcome to come to our BBQ this Saturday. For more info look in the midwest section of the forum for the Bonzai racing BBQ thread. If you would like to join just send me your email so we can add you to the mailing list.
-Amanda