I replaced my power steering pump almost exactly three years ago on my ’94 SC400. I’ve recently lost power steering fluid and I figured that the refurbished power steering unit must be leaking.

I got under the car today to pull the power steering unit and I found a hose that had come disconnected. I honestly don’t know that much about what’s happening with all those power steering hoses. I am hoping somebody can identify the hose that I found loose and tell me if that might be the cause of my leak. For now, I’ve just put the hose back on and am hoping that was the cause of the leak.



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Today is the last day of good weather for weeks to come…..so, if anyone could please help me with this ASAP I would appreciate it.

 

That is either a vacuum or return hose.

 

I have a bad feeling that it’s simply a vacuum hose and that it’s not the source of my leak. I really don’t know what the hell a vacuum hose is needed for on a power steering unit, but it appears to possibly lead up to either the air intake or the top of the motor.

The alternator is already soaked – so, it’s probably a goner anyway. I might just drive it and see what happens now that the hose is re-attached.

If anybody knows for sure that this hose is defiantly not the source of a leak – please let me know so I can go ahead with pulling it. It’s going to be 70 degrees today, but it’s going to be freezing for the next few weeks after today.

 

Moving to the correct forum

 

our cars have speed sensitive steering. at low speeds the steering is softer and at high speeds it gets stiffer. the vacuum line is for that.

 

So, is this definitely a vacuum line and definitely not the cause of my leak then?