Leaking power steering banjo...

[skelly]

Well I've come a long way with this car and it's just about ready to drive. My last challenge is to seal the banjo-like pressure hose fitting that mounts on top of the power steering pump. I've gone through various diagrams from different sources and have determined that there are at least two seals, a copper crush washer below the fitting, and a rubber o-ring in a receiving groove on the stud.

Searching high and low, I finally found a ready-made copper washer big enough to go around the base of the stud; the donor was one from among a set of three generic, over-sized washers intended for oil drain plugs. I had no washer here originally (lovely).

While the banjo was removed, I spotted the stock o-ring. It had hardened to a crisp. I cut it free with a sharp blade, installed the nearest diameter-match O-ring that I could find and put the banjo fitting back into place.

In the attached drawing, I can see that there is a washer in addition to the nut that secures the fitting. Originally the car had no washer here, so I've sourced one that fits - is my hypothesis correct that the copper washer below and rubber O-ring in the middle are the ONLY two actual sealing components and that this top washer is merely load dispursion for the nut, and is not itself any type of seal?

When I tighten this all down, my pump still leaks here between the threads of the nut/stud. All I can guess is that the oring I installed is not "thick" enough and that it is not sealing as intended. Any other tips/advice while I try to locate a heavier O-ring?

Thanks,
- SK

 

[TRBOBLU]

How about calling the dealership for the parts? Im sure it will cost like 10 bucks.

 

[Steve_P]

the dealer sells a pump rebuild kit; it comes with all the orings and the shaft seal. Price is not too bad.

 

[cmptrphreak]

Machv also sells a power steering pump gasket kit for 20.

 

[skelly]

I priced out a gasket replacement kit from the dealer - they wanted $80+ for it which was completely unacceptable. It looked to contain ALL the seals including internal ones that I didn't need.

I'm glad to see the mention that MachV sells a kit though - I've ordered some other stuff from them before.

In the meantime, I've located a 5/16" ID, 1/8" thick o-ring that is twice the thickness of the one I tried putting on there (Home Depot Racing Department to the rescue), so I'm going to give that a shot and if it doesn't work, then I'll turn to MachV.

Thanks for the tips!

- SK

 

[blueman803]

This might be extremely ghetto, but it worked for me. I got a rubber washer that barely fit over the threads, out rtv on the threads, and torgqued it down. Doesn't leak anymore.

 

[Steve_P]

IIRC I paid $15-20 thru Tallahassee Mitsu for the entire PS pump seal kit. It was much, much less than $40. I only used 2-3 of the orings and did the job on the car.