High Pressure P/S Hose Fitting Size?

[jmgtp]

I need to temporarily bypass power steering fluid to my rack and pinion.

My intention is to loop the high pressure line right into the low pressure return. Without any load on the pump it should just circulate fluid and be happy.

Question is, does anyone know the size of the threaded fitting I need for the high pressure port? What about the size of the line? I'm working on the assumption that I can buy a threaded fitting and flare a piece of steel line to route right to the low pressure line. I've seen guys with fieros do this on 3.4 swaps.

My power steering has a massive leak in the rack and I don't have time/space to fix it right now. When the new motor goes in (hopefully late winter/early spring) I'll repair the source of the leak. But for right now, the car needs to drive about an hour to get to its winter storage spot and that is why I need this temporary fix to bypass the power steering - not only would it dump most of the fluid on the ride but it would probably leak out the rest on the garage floor, which the garage owner would not be happy with.

The other solution is if anyone has an old high pressure hose they could sell me? Wouldn't matter if it was leaking or broken, just the threaded fitting for the pump end would need to be in good shape and an inch or two of the steel line. The threaded fitting part is probably the same for most 60v6.

[portsider44]

I can't answer your question, however was wondering if you could see excatly where it was leaking from. On my daughter 91 z34 from underneath it looked lik it was leaking from the rack, however under closure review it was just a lose line that went to the top of the rack & would run down it.

Tighten it up which was not easy, ended up grining the box end off of a cheap 16 or 18mm wrench to get it tighten.

[jmgtp]

I'm really not sure where it is leaking from. I have been under the car with the motor running but at the time is was a slow drip that would yield a spot about the size of a coffee mug on the driveway overnight - to slow of a leak for me to identify the source. My best guess is that it appeared to be leaking from the rubber bellow on the passenger side indicating an internal seal on the R&P had failed. However it may be the high pressure hose itself since it runs up to the pump in that area and it is leaking onto the bellow. It has recently developed into an almost steady stream of fluid leaking and should hopefully be easier to identify.

The real problem is that right now my garage is full with other cars and the Grand Prix is sitting outside. I may have to just bring it in and replace the high pressure hose hoping that fixes it. If not I guess I'll have the old hose sitting around which I can then hack up and at least get the car to storage and save the headache for when the motor comes out at which time servicing the R&P becomes much easier. The current hose is maybe 5-6 years old which seems a bit young to have failed but since it was an aftermarket part I'm sure its quality is sub par.

[portsider44]

My money is on the high pressure hose, On 91 Z34 its a PIA to change unless you have a helper to feed it down to you.

[Dave96z34]

just fix it right the first time it doesn't take to long/

[jmgtp]

Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion.
I made space in the garage last night and brought the car in. I'm going to pickup a new high pressure hose and change it. If that fixes the problem, great. If not, I do not have time to pull the rack out of this car right now. The winter project on the other car comes first then in Jan-Feb I'd probably get back around to the GP. I still need to get the car about an hour away to a different garage because I need the full 2 bays to pull the motor out of the other car and I can't do that with the GP sitting there.

[jmgtp]

I pulled the power steering lines, high pressure + low pressure with cooler. Not a leak from any of them.
The leak is emminating from the passenger side bellow on the rack. I ended up looping the high pressure + low pressure ports on the rack and pinion, bypassing the pump. and then I did the same at the pump - just looped high pressure to low pressure. The result: no leak and also no power steering. For now this will do. The car needs to drive about 40 miles to get to its winter home where it will sit. Come late winter I'll bring it back and service the rack, motor swap, etc. I drove it a few miles without the power assist. Above 10mph its not so bad, above 30mph its not even noticeable that power steering is gone. Below 10mph and at a stop, its a bear but doable.

[Dave96z34]

Just be happy you don't have drag slicks on trying to turn at a stop with them warm is just as hard as not having ps at all on regular tires..