Hi All,
Had a leak from the crimped hose union on the output end of the power steering oil cooler. Managed a fix for under £5 or $8. here is what I did.

Parts: 2 off 3/8" (9mm) double ended male to male hydraulic connectors. 3/8 hose about 6" (150mm) long. 6 hose clips.

1. Using a large syringe, i used one from an ink cartridge refill kit I had, suck out as much fluid from the reservoir as possible to minimise amount that leaks later.
2. Cut the hoses either side of the cooler about 1/4" (6mm) from the end of the metal crimp on the pipe. Place a shallow pot underneath to collect fluid.
3. Pull the oil cooler out of its clips and remove.
4. I used a small grinding wheel in my dremmel to grind through the the metal crimp to release it and pull off the small piece of hose.
5. Clean up the cooler generally.
6. I decided to do a low pressure test to make sure the cooler was intact. For this I blew up 2 small balloons and placed them over the inlet and outlet, then immersed the whole thing in the bath, looking for a steady stream of bubbles. A steady stream is a leak.
7. Clean up fluid from the front bumper and lower radiator areas.
8. Cut the piece of new 3/8" hose in half, lubricate the outside of the cooler inlet and out pipes with a thin smear of washing up liquid and push/twist the hose onto the cooler so that it is 1/4" (6mm) past the second ridge on the pipe each end. secure with one hose clamp between the ridges and one at the end past the second ridge. this is on both sides.
9. refit cooler into support clips.
10. insert joining nipple into pipe and connect back into the supply and return pipes. You may have to shorten the piece you added to make it fit, and fix with hose clips.
11. Fill with new fluid.
12 Bleed system by turning steering 3 times lock to lock without engine running, then 3 times with engine running, checking for leaks all the time.
13. Top up if required.

I have attached some pictures, i used jubilee clips but I am sure hose clips would be neater.

kev

 

Great low cost fix, thanks.

 

Your low pressure test is brilliant. My kind of mechanic work. Simple and effective.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

I lost all my ps fluid from the reservoir yesterday. I haven't looked under the car yet to find the source. This thread may be a life saver since this is a holiday weekend in the US.

Thanks.

 

Neat repair, I have a slight leak at the connector between the metal pipe from the rack and the rubber hose going to the cooler. This looks like a good fix for that.

 

I just re-crimped the ferrule - free. (I will admit to having the little hydraulic, hand-held tool that does it...)

 

looks like my leak is the high pressure line from the pump to the rack. Doesn't look too difficult to replace.

 

Many thanks to kgpumps for the excellent advice.

Being of an idle nature and having the same problem of a small leak from the ferrule of the connection to the cooler I did the Dremel trick and cut off the ferrule without damaging the hose and then undid a Jubilee clip and wrapped it round the hose and tightened it up and so far it has held up without the need to drain the system.
I'll report back if it ends as a failure but it did save a lot of time.