hey all, anyone experienced a power steering leak? If so, where did it come from. I seem to have sprung a minor leak and will be looking at it this weekend, but am interested if there might be a spot to focus on first. This came on kinda suddenly, so, I am suspecting a hose. But, I am keeping my eyes wide open as it can be almost anything. I do know the tank is good as there is no fluid coming out of it. But, all the rest is hidden under the engine and there is not much to see until you pull the plate off the bottom of the car.

 

Is it forming a puddle on the floor? If so, whereabouts?

 

It only forms a puddle every once in awhile (car needs to be pointed with the nose up). It will form a puddle kinda behind the left front wheel from where it has rolled off of the under tray. So, this is making finding the issue a little tough. I am looking to take the under tray off this weekend and see what I can find. I figure it can only be but the power steering pump or a hose. I would find it hard to believe that it would be the steering rack. But, with that being said.........

 

Ok, who was the engineer that designed the hoses for the power steering system. He is a ....... (I better leave my mouth shut for I may get in trouble). I am all for stress relief and whatnot, but they went way over board. In my case, the way over resulted in the line coming out of the steering rack and going to the cooler was bent so far beyond where it needed to, that it pushed the hose against the steering shaft input, putting unnecessary stress on the hose, resulting in a leak over time. Had they simply cut out 20 degrees of the bend (hard tubing is bent 180 degrees), the hose would have cleared everything and this would not be an issue. Guess what the new tubing is getting as soon as I get it in my hands?

Now the question comes as to how much I will need to tear apart to replace the section of hose. From the quick looking I have done, this may be quite the fun job as the hose runs from the power steering rack, to the cooler in front of the radiator and back to the expansion tank. Most of it seems pretty easy other than getting the lines un-trapped from the radiator which may require me to drain the coolant system so I can move the radiator around some. Gotta look at the service manual to see what it says.

So, if you are interested, I will take some pics to show you the issue. But, if you happen to develop a slow leak in the power steering system, I would look there first. After that, it will be the line running from the power steering pump to the power steering rack. That same engineer got overly excited and ran the hose from driver's side, clear to the passenger side and back. This requires the use of supports to hold the line in place and as I am finding out, the plastic is getting brittle from the engine heat and failing (2 out of 3 of mine were broken and when I attempted to attach the 3rd, it broke). So, I have a feeling that I am going to be creating some new mounts that will hold things much better. Probably consist of 2 pieces of heavy duty rubber tubing over the 2 lines that are supposed to be connected via the supports and then holding the tubing together with a hose clamp. THis should provide the necessary isolation to prevent the tubing from flexing and also prevent the metal hose clamp from eating into any tubing too.

Gotta love having an engineering background to undo what some other engineer thought was a good idea.

 

I have the same issue! It's been going on for a long time but never has posed a serious problem as of yet. Would love to see how hard/easy it is for me to get in and replace.

 

Give me to this weekend, I will let you know. From what I can tell, I am going to have to move the radiator to give me access to the lines. The hoses coming off of the cooler are all prefabricated and there is no joint to break. So, it is one line from the steering rack, to the cooler in front of the radiator, back to the overflow bottle. Should be interesting.

In your case, I would see where the leak is coming from. You may get lucky and your problem is simply a leaking o-ring and that would be a 30 minute fix since all you would have to do is remove the under plate, loosen a single bolt, remove the line and swap out the o-ring. That would be easy.

 

I've been told I have a slow leak on the actual line itself. Of course the dealership wants an outrageous amount of money and the local shop wants $350 or so, but if I can do it one afternoon (I have no problems taking the nose off the car and have done to swap out a parking sensor), I'd prefer to do it that way.

 

Thermo, I wonder if on the RHD XJs the lines and routing are simpler?

 

XJsss, it may be because that would pretty much have both of the lines coming straight across and tapping into the steering rack. Granted, if they are going as far as to make LHD and RHD lines, then they can do things a little better. I think the "issue" has to do more with they are using the same cooler for the XJ, XF, XK, and the F-Type. So, I am sure compromises had to be made to accommodate all of the vehicles.

 

Thermo My thinking is that the steering gear connection to the steering wheel would necessitate the rack being placed so the takeoff is on the right side.

 

SovietKisch, I know this may not be the end all to your issue, but I have been putting Prestone full synthetic power steering fluid (Asian) into mine and the leak seems to have stopped. Of note, there are 3 different version of this fluid (Asian, European, and American), but from what I can tell, they are pretty much all the same. I was only using the Asian as that is what was available at the local parts store. So, you may want to give that a try. I went through 3 bottles based on my leak, but the 3rd bottle has now made for a steady level in the reservoir.

 

The leak came back and I decided I wasn't playing the game any more. I replaced the hose today. Not as bad as I would have thought. On a scale of 1 (air filter replacement) to 5 (engine rebuild), I would rate this one at about a 2.5 to 3. Not extremely difficult, but something that almost any backyard mechanic could do.

Things you will need:
-T20, T30, and T40 torx bits
-7 and 10mm socket
-6" extension with the associated wrench to fit your socket and torx bits
- two 12 ounce bottles of full synthetic fluid
-power steering hose with cooler (got mine used for $50 delivered to the house, new from the dealership, they are like $340 plus any S&H)
-new o-ring (only required if you are getting a used part, Jag part number: XR829168, $8)
-catch pan for about 20 ounces of fluid
-jack and jack stands with associated wheel blocks
-needle nose pliers or flat blade screw driver for removing the press fasteners that hold the intake in place and also the cooler hose down near the power steering rack

What you need to do is the following:
-remove the left side air box (whole thing), disconnecting it from the intake at the joint just downstream of the MAF sensor. Make sure to undo the press fitting that is attached to the air box before removing
-Set the e-brake and then lift the front end of the car up in the air far enough that you can crawl under to do work. Place jackstands under the front end to support the weight. Of note, the rear suspension may move on you as you are doing work as the car is going to try and level itself. Disconnecting the battery or disabling the suspension may be something you want to do.
-remove the under tray. There are 5 bolts in the front (T20 and T30 torx bits required) and 6 in the rear (3 on each side, all of these are 10mm heads). Finally, there are two 10mm nuts in the center holding the plate up at this point. It is easiest to do it this way. Otherwise you tend to fight the tray. Remove the tray from under the car.
-Using the T40 torx bit, remove the bolt near the steering shaft that holds the 2 main lines for the steering rack. You may find that you will need just the T40 bit and a 1/4" wrench if yours twisted like mine (more on this later).
-With the T40 head bolt out of the way, pull the top line (supply) out a little so you can get the lower (return) out. Let all the fluid drain into your catch tray.
-as the fluid is draining, remove the press fastener from the cross member just in front of the steering rack. You can find this fastener by simply following the return hose towards the front of the car.
-Once the fluid is done draining, go to the front of the car and find the 2 hoses for the cooler. Follow the lower hose down to under the power steering overflow bottle. Disconnect the fastener there holding the power steering hose to a coolant hose.
-At this point, you can pull the line back into the opening created by removing the air box. As you get the hose pulled back to this point, you will see where there is a compression/barb fitting about 2 feet back from where you disconnected the line from the steering rack. Using some pliers, slide the retaining clip off of the barb fitting and disconnect the end of the hose at this point.
-Connect the new piece of hose at this point (will need to pull this same section off of the new hose that you have) and remake the barb fitting. If using a used hose, remove the o-ring on the end of the hose at this point (much easier to do than once it is under the car)
-With the new hose down near the steering rack, install the new o-ring and re-make the fittings at the steering rack. When re-making this joint, make sure the hose is not against the steering rack, but is rotated slightly away to keep the rubber hose as straight as possible. Tighten the T40 head bolt.
-re-make the press fitting on the cross member and the hose clamp up by the air box/overflow bottle.
-add in enough fluid to get the overflow bottle full. In my case, it took about 18 fluid ounces to do this. The system will for the most part fill and vent itself. Very little will need to be added later, so, don't over fill.
-Check for leaks.
-Re-install the air box. I found it easiest to remove the C shaped intake tube coming from in front of the radiator to the area behind the radiator. You can do it without removing the piece, but for the amount of work it takes to pull the piece off, save yourself a lot of cussing and swearing.
-Start the engine and let run for a minute, checking for any leaks. You can turn the steering wheel at this time to help flush out any possible air that may be in the steering rack. You may hear the power steering pump whine/wheeze for a second or two, this is just the system purging the air.
-Once you are leak free, re-install the under tray. Place the tray in the general area, slide the front end of the tray above the part that is under the radiator and then install the two 10mm nuts to hold the tray in place. Everything else should line up at this point.

You are now done. Enjoy the leak free kitty.

Now for where I think things could have been better engineered. I mentioned that the hose may be pressed tight up against the steering rack. I am not sure if it happen to move there from running the engine and it vibrating to that point or if it was installed from the factory that way (I am going to give Jaguar the benefit of the doubt on this one). With the hose pressed against the steering shaft input, this caused the hose to have unnecessary stress on it, leading to a leak on the hydraulic press fittings. When you reassemble the new hose, make sure that it is got some breathing room for that hose. I installed the new hose almost 90 degrees from where I found it. The hose now makes a nice straight shot from the mounting at the frame rail to where the metal tube ends. I did flex my new tubing a little bit to open up the U portion some to help prevent the hose from getting pressed back up against the steering shaft should it rotate around again.

The other "oddity" that I noticed was that the supply line is way too long for what it needs to be. This forces it to require some support. From the factory, there are 3 plastic clips that hold the tubing in place. When new, these work fine. But, after years of being subjected to under hood temps, the plastic dries out and becomes brittle, leading to the clips breaking and letting the tubing flop around under the hood. Over time this can result in tubing failure. I fixed mine by using some rubber tubing that I split and placed over the tubing and then used a 1" hose clamp to pull the 2 pieces of tubing to each other. 3/8" fuel line makes for almost the same gap that the factory clips have and the 1" hose clamp is going to provide much more support over the long run.

I have some pictures of the adventure. I will create another post here shortly to give you some pictures of what I found and what I did.

 

Here are the pics. I will explain what each of the pics are so you can see what I found on my car. This may be one of those things that others will want to look at. Mine seemed to develop a leak from what was either a line that moved over time from vibration or was installed from the factory like this. Either way, I see it as a ticking timebomb.


This is the opening that you have to play with once you remove the air box. Lots of room to work once you can get the lines up where you can touch them. Need to disconnect from the steering rack before you will get enough room.


Below the 2 lines that you can see is the line that you are worried about. There are 2 supports for the return from the steering rack. One is hidden in this picture, the other is down where the hose starts coming up over the cross member.


You can see how the metal line loops back and is pressed against the steering shaft input to the steering rack. Makes the hose do a funny bend which I believe lead to the leak since it was leaking from the crimped connection right there.


Another angle to show the funny bend the line makes, leading to the issue that I feel it is.


In the center of the pic, you can see where the hose is built up. Just underneath that is the joint that you can remove a spring clip from to break the cooler line into 2 pieces. This will save you a lot of time since you won't have to replace the whole cooler assembly which would more than likely involve pulling the radiator.


How I left the line when I was done. I rotated it about 90 degrees so there was plenty of room. You can see how the line makes a much nicer line from the steering rack to the cross member area.


A shot of the 3/8" fuel line that I used to create the new supports for the supply line to the steering rack. The hose is about 1-1/2" sections of hose with a split down the side. These can be placed over the lines without having to remove them. Fits perfectly onto the main steering supply lines, a little big for the small line running from one end of the steering rack to the other. But, it all works.


The black clip on the left is the broken one and the one on the right is the good one. There was one more clip to the left of the broken one that was even further out on the steering line supply hose. The 2 broken clips provided a majority of the support. It was only time before this line would have failed from cyclic stress from hitting bumps and whatnot.


The fix. You can see how the fuel line fits on the hard line and the 1" hose clamp holds it all together. The fuel line creates a gap that is very close to what the factory clips had. One note though, make sure that the split in the fuel line is not where the hose clamp touches the hose. Putting the split there can lead to where the hose clamp may over time work its way to the steering line, leading to a rubbing issue. So, no real stress placed on the lines from doing this. This new support is on the right side of the engine, just inboard of the front wheel. if you get under the car, you will immediately see where the line runs from the left side of the car, to the right, then all the way back to the left. Not sure why they did this, but they did.

If you have any questions, let me know. Like I mentioned in the above post, this was not really a hard job. Would be much easier if you have 2 people, but is doable with a single person. The big thing is keeping things clean and making sure that you don't get any dirt on the o-rings as that will lead to a leak.

 

I also had the same problem, but I was told, that the O-rings have to be replaced.
100 euro total would do the job. I asked them if the hose is alright and got the positive answer. Looking to have my leakage fixed this Wednesday.
Let's hope that it helps.

 

lolshto, replacing the o-rings would be a piece of cake. Very easy to get to. As the one picture shows, when they put things back together, make sure that they position the return line from the steering rack away from steering shaft. I see that as a source of problems that will bite you in the future.