Leaking steering box[800/69]

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Leaking steering box[800/69] posted by David D. on
Thursday, 30 July 1998, at 8:33 a.m.

Hi,
I had noticed that my car was marking its territory. I was not shure where the drip was coming from and it looked like oil. While checking my ball joints (thanks for all the tips) I noticed droplets on the bottom of the steering box. I opened the filler value on the top and all I could see was metal in there, no fluid.
Q1. Are leaks in the steering box a common problem. What needs to be replaced or is there another fix.
Q2. What type of lubricant normally goes in there, and would it be possible to put a thicker oil in, or a lubricant that contains a stop leak component like Slick-50.
Q3. How much lubricant goes into the steering box in the first place.

THanks in advance, your help so far has made all the difference.

David

Re: Leaking steering box[800/69] posted by Glenn Goodspeed on
Thursday, 30 July 1998, at 9:48 p.m.

David - The seals go bad after a while, and that's where oil usually leaks from the steering gearbox. There are two seals, one for the input shaft (steering column) and one for the Pitman shaft that comes out the bottom. Replacing the seals is a real job, since you have to remove the steering box and partially disassemble it. If anyone has the seals, it would be John Sharisky at Boston Volvo (1-800-336-2355). Probably should check the gaskets, too. There's one under the front plate and one under the top plate.

Some folks who have less patience with such things replace the oil with thick chassis grease pumped through the filler hole with a grease gun. I don't recommend this method except as a last resort.

Normally, the box is filled with SAE 80 or 90 gear oil. Fill until the oil touches the bottom of the filler plug hole. The filler plug is the square one on top of the box. -Glenn.
Goodspeed's Volvo 1800 Newsletter

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