97 ranger PS

I noticed a large puddle of pink fluid under my recently purchased ranger. I see that the steering gearbox is soaked, but the pump is not. Also, the steel parts of the hoses are very rusty. What is the likelyhood that the gearbox was bad at 127K miles? What would cause the box to leak, seals? Ill try to remove the hoses and hopefullly that is it.

Reply to
thateb
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Check your transmission fluid level. I can't help wonder if the pink fluid is transmission fluid.

And check your other fluid levels, too.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Possibly DexCool or its equivalent in the cooling system; this will destroy seals & gaskets not made to allow the use of the stuff.

Reply to
Sharon Cooke

It is a manual, so I dont have AT fluid on the ground. There doesnt seem to be any leakage from the cooling system. Tonight, Ill hose down the steering box and disconnect the hoses from it and see if they look like the culprit. I just got the pickup, so maybe my rough driving cracked the rusty hoses. Thanks for the input tho.

Reply to
thateb

FWIW, the manual transmissions in those also use ATF.

Reply to
B.B.

That sounds bizarre that they use ATF. Anyway, it was a hose fitting. Wahoo! One thing tho, what happens if I got some debris in the steering box? I did my best with compressed air and chisles and choke cleaner to get it clean, but more and more crud kept emerging as I threaded the hose fitting out.

Reply to
thateb

It'll circulate through and settle out in the reservoir - I'm betting there's a sock filter on the power steering pump inlet to catch any big chunks that want to make a repeat trip.

Do a bit of searching - I've seen an inline transmission filter, meant to go on the trans cooler return line just like a big fuel filter, but the steel case is made to handle the 200PSI or more that a transmission (or a power steering pump) might throw at it.

Would be overkill to put a full-size hydraulic filter on the power steering system return line, but that little one looks just right. The other place to get a small high-pressure filter would be an EFI fuel filter - if you can find mating fittings to put hose barbs on it.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Any MT fluid i've seen is a yellow/gold color ... gear oil

Reply to
Picasso

Yeah, I thought it was odd too that they used ATF, but that's what they use.

Reply to
B.B.

oh you're speaking for a ranger? Really, ford uses ATF in the manual transmission... heh.. didn't know that.

Actually, at work they use ATF in the Power Steering... how do you think that works?

Reply to
Picasso

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