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Power steering reservoir?

D

Dailordasailor

New member
I picked up a 99 Buick Regal GS for a parts car but decided to try and "save" it. Basically had to re-do front driver suspension and rear lateral links plus fender/bumper. Got all that taken care of. But now that its on the lift i see there a leak. From what i can tell its the power steering reservoir and its wet/leaking. But, i cant even get a good look at it more less remove and replace. Any secrets to this?

Also, the oil pan was wet so i plan to replace the gasket if replacing the steering reservoir dosnt prevent the oil pan from getting damp again (pretty sure it is indeed oil on pan but never know). But looking at the pan i cant see how i would remove that either because the passenger side of pan is stuffed up under something that looks like may be a mount?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Dale
 


You can see most of the power steering resivoir if you remove the pass. tire and look through the wheelwell. If the mount on that Regal is anything like the one on the GP's then you will have to remove that mount, jack the engine up w/o using the pan (most use the balancer) and remove the pan. Bill has a writeup on here I'm sure, probably search for something like "oil pan removal" and BillBoost as the username.
 
if you take the alt off, you can get a good look at the p/s pump. you take the pass wheel off to get to the lines on the pump, then from the top you go through the hole in the pulley on the pump with a 3 inch extension and ratchet, the bolts are at 12 and 6 o clock.

your new pump will not have a pulley on it, you need to pull the one you have and re use it. you need a GM p/s pulley puller to take it off and put it back on with. nothing else will work with out damage to the pulley.

after the new pump is on, de grease the engine, from the top and bottom, up the side of the block and the trans, get the top and sides as well of the trans, and the top of the engine, if you still have the stock air box on the car, you can literally hose it down as it sits with out worries. car ramps or jack stands works well for this so you can get under the car to really spray it all down good. while its in the air, take the inspection cover off, by the starter, where the trans meets the engine, look up in there for a oil leak as well, between the block and the flex plate, the rear cover like to leak on these engines sometimes. clean that cover up and put it back when your done cleaning up the engine.


then watch it for leaks, the rear valve cover likes to leak and looks like a oil pan leak, oil will travel all the way around the pan. and drip off both sides of the tranny pan ( like mine did) the valve cover is over the trans so it makes sense.



if need be use brake cleaner and rags to re clean the sides of the block, that gets all the shine off, and if the covers are leaking you can see the fresh trail of oil running down the block, to the pan.
 
Wow thanks for the great detail! Is the power steering reservoir part of the steering pump? Best I can tell its just the reservoir leaking
 
I was planning to grab the reservoir from the jy which had 8 Buicks ;) I just have no idea how to get to it/remove. Do I just follow the steps listed wkthout replacing pump?
 


it looks like you can just pull up on the tank and it should pop off.

if you look up the part on line, they sell them with or with out a res, and have pics of each, all i saw was a hole where the tank set into the pump. maybe a O ring inside the tube.
 
I can hardly see up in there on the lift or from up top. Going to pull the belt and go from the top at junk yard Friday and see what I get. That way if breaks I got 7 more cars to try
 
Well was cleaning up the brakes and cleaning the frame where the guy put it in the ditch which packed dirt and debris up in the plastics/top of frame. While in there i got a better look at where the majority of my leak was coming from. The oil pangasket definately looks like the culprit. Is there anything else behind the pulley or above the pan right there that often leaks? Its wet in other spots on the pan seal so im thinking that must be it. Took the car for a drive and when pulled back in garage there was a small drip puddle after 30 minutes. At the moment planning to do the pan gasket and the power steering pump.
buickleak.jpg
 
That pan gasket looks smeared with RTV. Pan gaskets are common. Harnonic balancer seals do happen, not as often though (the main big pulley in your pic). Likely it's the pan. If you get seepage afterwards, it's likely the rear engine cover seeping slowly. Let it seep, since you have to pull either engine or trans to do that gasket.
 


Thanks for the input. The other giveaway is that the bolts on pan collect oil on the heads. The gasket must be shot around each bbolt hole as well. Some pressure washing and a new gasket should help a good bit I hope. If everything checks out it'll be going for an alignment next couple weeks and be my winter car
 
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