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My 245 is Bleeding! 200 1986

My girlfriend informed me yesterday that my wagon was bleeding. I rushed outside and sure enough, there was a big red puddle under the car on our nice shiny carport. This, of course, was power steering fluid.

I removed the splashpan and investigated, but all I could determine was that he stuff was dripping from the rack boots -- both of them, though the passenger side more than the driver side. (this seems odd becuse all the steering stuff is on he drivers side, but anyway...)

I've known there was a leak down there for at least 3 years, but it only leaks in cold weather, so I haven't bothered to fix it since I live in Austin, Texas. But winter has finally caught up with Texas and it's now its leaking more than ever. There was probably half a quart of fluid on he ground. So I'm assuming that there's a rubber seal, possibly under the boots, that's contracting in the cold and leaking the fluid. So I have two questions:

1) Where is it most likely leaking from?

2) Has anyone had any luck with any sort of "stop leak" magic fluids in their power steering?

I'm generally wary of such snake oils, but being as the rack is probably on its last leg anyway, and being as I needed to get its state inspection last month (doh!), I'm up for trying some voodoo.








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    Re: My 245 is Bleeding! 200 1986

    Chris:

    If you have an immediate need to pass inspection without having it leak all over the place, just disconnect/remove the power steering pump belt. You can slip it off the P/S pump pulley, drop it down and loop it around the rear of the A/C compressor to hold it out of the way. When the rack in my '85 245DL blew a seal in New Mexico a few years back, this is what I did, and drove the car home to Florida without power steering (you won't even miss it on the highway, around town and parking require a bit more effort, however).

    I've heard that Jorgen Auto has pretty good prices on rebuilt racks. No experience with them myself, just third hand information. Here's the URL:

    http://www.jorgenauto.com/rack-pinion/volvo.html#VOLVO

    Good luck.









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    Re: My 245 is Bleeding! 200 1986

    If you plan on keeping the car, bite the bullet and install a rebuilt rack. The end seals require complete rack disassembly to replace. the volvo seal kit is over $100.








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    Re: My 245 is Bleeding! 200 1986

    Since you asked...

    Put a capful or two of brake fluid in the P/S system. It is not the proper fix--duh--but you'd be surprised what it can do.







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