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93 k series hydroboost lines

I have a hydroboost system and it's leaking badly. I don't have a diagram of where the lines go and I'm a bit confused - the leak is just under the headlight. A lines come off the steering gearbox and the pump and together go through a hole in the sheet metal in the front (under the headlight, into the "grill cavity" for lack of a better description). Here's where it's leaking, but it's also a very tough spot to get to, so I wanted to get some opinion on the best way to do so.

First - why do the lines go there? Is there a cooler that I was unaware of for the hydroboost/power steering system? Again, Chiltons is leaving me wondering. It makes no sense that the lines would go in that area unless there was a cooler there or perhaps they plumb into the radiator like the trans lines do on the other side. If you have any insight on the best way to get in there to replace the line, please let me know.

Thanks,

--Jeff

Reply to
JeffH
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Yep there is a power steering cooler on the front side of the radiator. Nothing real special about them. It is actually just a chunk of 3/8" steel tubing bent into a flat serpentine shape. It is on the return side of the system and is easy to replace with a simple loop. Or get a high flow transmission cooler that uses 3/8" lines and install it.

Easiest way is to pull the grill and you will find the cooler right there on the right side. You will see the lines going through the core support.

Reply to
Steve W.

Thanks for the reply. I talked to a friend of a friend who said the same and I ended up just bypassing it with a hose barb and a couple of clamps. I don't drive it much and won't be hauling anything this winter, so I'll tear down the front end in the spring and take care of that along with a few other minor issues. For now, it seems to work fine.

Here's where everyone jumps on me for applying my typical hillbilly engineering - I was out of power steering fluid while I was having the issue and so I used trans fluid. Been using it ever since, so the system is probably 90% trans fluid at this point. Is this massively bad, kinda bad, or okay to do? The power steering fluids on the shelf seem to have almost no certifications or standards, while the transmission fluids do - trans fluid appears to have to adhere to tighter specs than PS fluid. My PS pump has many miles on it but seems to be doing fine at this time. I'm going to drive it a couple hundred miles tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

--Jeff

Reply to
JeffH

Not as bad as running it dry. They are both mineral oil based. There are a LOT of companies that spec Dexron II or III for power steering. Toyota, Ford, Dodge just to name a few.

Reply to
Sunset

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