Problem - Power steering hose or Oil pan Leak?!?

Only of the hardest thing to find in a congested space is a high pressure pinhole leak... think about it; The fluid is 'atomized' and dispersed immediately AND just a little causes a lot of smoke and wet.

Thus you're on the right track.

Don't rule out an oil pan leak. 3.0L Tauri are known for the front of the oil pan gasket pushing out of place(the half-moon piece that you mentioned). That would be why it only seems to leak on left turns. It would leak almost directly onto the front exhaust pipe and the crankshaft pulley will sling it all over the front of the motor.

my taurus almost fooled me once into changing the oil pan gasket. It turned out that the oil sender on top of the motor was leaking and runing down the back and dripping on the floor. needless to say what a releif. the sender on mine (don't know if yours is the same) is on the rear of the motor (drivers side) on top and very hard to see. Also, if you suspect a ps leak have someone crank the wheel way over with some pressure on it and watch fo a leak at the hoses. I've seen high pressure lines leak like crazy when under pressure (wheels cranked over) and not even drip when going straight.

Drive the car around in counterclockwise circles in a parking lot for about 10 minutes (hard left turns). Bring a used pizza box and place it under the engine/power steering pump/hoses after you have finished driving in circles. Wait a half hour or so and look for fluid drops on the pizza box using a flashlight if necessary. Don't move the box until you've made a mental note of the area in the engine compartment directly above the fluid drops. Maybe you'll get lucky and actually see a drop forming on a hose or something. When you get back home drive up some ramps and see if you can follow the fluid back to the source.

Just a suggestion... seems like the places you've been are just guessing.

The pan leak I was referring to is a very obvious "spitting out" of the silicone gasket at the front of the engine. Yep, That oil sender can be a real fooler. It often appears to be a rear oil pan or rear main seal leak.

no kidding, the pan would have been bad enough (having to lay on the garage floor), but the rear main----ouch... I'm glad I took the time to diagnose it correctly thats for sure! :) IIRC it took a finger to find the sender leaking, thats how hard it is to see.

Yea. And rear main seal leaks are common too. Removing that pan is a major expense. I think the lady should hold out for a difinitive diagnosis before doing anything.

hehe... I wonder if I could stay in my own seat for 10 mins of that.. sounds like a good way to get real dizzy;)

True story: I bent the front end of an old Dodge in a snowstorm, hit a curb real hard. I put the spare on and the driver's side front wheel was on such an angle if I let go of the wheel all it did was left turns. So we all piled in and did donuts in a parking lot somewhere for about an hour...

You have a tiny pinhole rusted through one of the metal portions of the power steering line. The spray will be so fine you can ALMOST see it. By adding a bit of flourescing die to the fluid reservoir and using a black lite you will see the spray. Helps to wash it down well first so all you see is the new oil.

Aaaahhh yes, misspent youth. I once spent 20 minutes doing right hand circles sprawled across the front clip of a late 80's Buick LeSabre with the hood up. The engine made clanking noises only on right hand turns. Any guess what the problem was? " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "" Broken Bendix spring! It would slide into the flywheel on right hand turns. It wouldn't do it consistently.

Sure enough the gasket has pushed out from the oil pan - it's quite visible and leaking like mad now. Never heard of this one before - I'm really quite curious as to why this happens, but I'm sure it's an enigma as with most car- related problems. We tried to fix it, but surprise - two of the bolts are directly underneath a cross beam, so the engine will have to be lifted. What a bloody pain - I guess we will have to enlist some outside help. I just hope that once this is done it'll be the end of all this nonsense!!! Thanks to all for the help, it's much appreciated!!!

I believe the silicone compound of the old gasket was too soft so it would tend to "squirt" out after a bit of oil seeped into the sealing area, just my opinion. I recall a statement from Ford saying it was from slightly overfilling the oil and thus keeping too much oil in that area too often. Don't try to reposition the old gasket, it will squirt back out in short order. The pan is easy to R&R if you feel you can lower the exhaust pipe yourself. That's the hardest part. The engine doesn't need to be lifted.