Power Steering Fluid Issue

[dontmess]

Hi I recently had a problem with my power steering on my Focus 1.6 Petrol MK 2.5 (there was a leak in the hose)

Anyway I got that replaced by a local mechanic and it seems to be working now. However it appears that he has put too much power steering fluid in the car.

I've attached an image of the power sterering reservoir- the image is after having driven the car for about 30mins so its when the engine was warm. You can see its pretty high.

When the engine is cold the fluid comes to about 1cm-2cm above the MAX line..

My question is, is this ok? Will I have a problem with this? Also, if I need to remove some, how do I do it? Can I use a syringe? Or will that put air into the power steering system..

Appreciate the help

[artscot79]

ide use a syringe and remove the excess that will start to spill out round corners despite the cap wont do the hydraulics any favours either

[dontmess]

Cheers mate, will have to give that a go tomorrow.

I'm going to remove it when the car is cold but got a question about that.. When the engine is cold should the fluid be upto the MAX mark or on the COLD mark?

[artscot79]

cold mark when its warm it expands to the max mark

[catch]

Hi I recently had a problem with my power steering on my Focus 1.6 Petrol MK 2.5 (there was a leak in the hose)

Anyway I got that replaced by a local mechanic and it seems to be working now.

Hi dontmess,

how much did the hose replacement job cost you?

I've a leak on my power steering hose, Ford dealer diagnosed it just by the sound the power steering was making, and lifting the bonnet and the fact it was leaking oil to the floor, and had squired a fine mist of it onto the bonnet underside.

Now as there is a pressure hose and a oil return hose I'm reckoning it is the pressure hose they will need to change. Also they recommended I had the auxiliary belts changed at the same time. Job was priced at 2.5 hours [£200] with total job costing £368.

Now having not driven the car since Friday when the leak happened and the oil is just a smidgen below the cold line on the reservoir. And I've inspected the belts, they are fine and do not need changing [they are designed to live in an oil environment and hence not disintegrate at the merest exposure to a bit of oil contamination]

Anyway I reckon all that needs replacing is the hose and oil, so would be interested to know what you paid for the job ?

Anybody on the forum know what time Ford allocate technician time for a pressure hose replacement and oil refill?

[stef123]

If the belt is contaminated with oil I would change it, it's not really designed to work in an oily environment as oil will cause it to slip.

Changing the hose and topping the fluid up surely can't be more than an hours labour.

[catch]

If the belt is contaminated with oil I would change it, it's not really designed to work in an oily environment as oil will cause it to slip.

Changing the hose and topping the fluid up surely can't be more than an hours labour.

I got a quote from another Ford Dealer, for the hose job only, and asked them the tech time for the job. And your right stef they quoted 1.25 hours for the job, it came in at £252.64

Regards the belts, I hear what your saying stef, but the cars only done less than three miles since the leak developed, and its a very minor leak. On inspection the belts are fine and what one would consider dry to the touch.

In fact there was no mention of the belts needing replacing when the foreman gave his diagnosis. It was only as he was heading for his office to price the job up for me, that I offered up the comment "would the belts be OK" To which he replied "it would be better to replace them".....................so I think it was just a case of .....the customer is prepared to have the belts changed so why turn down another £115 added to the bottom line of the invoice..............call me a cynic.

[dontmess]

Hi catch. Ok basically with mine they said the power steering pipe was leaking which meant I had to buy a new hose, they also said the drive belt had become contaminated because of the leaking fluid. Ford quoted me £475 for the repair.. which I thought was way too high!!

I found out there was total of 5 parts that needed changing which were, the drive belt, the hose, power steering fluid, and two other bit (one was a nut kind of this, the other was almost like a washer sort of thing.)

Anyway they told me the total price for the parts was £180. Meaning they were charging me a bomb on labour.

I asked at a local garage how much they would charge just for labour (with me buying the parts for £180) and they quoted me £85.

So got the whole thing done for £265 (saving just over £200 than getting Ford to do it).

Hope this helps

[dontmess]

Also I have the prices I paid for the parts individually if you want to know them.

[stef123]

I'm using my phone so can't see, but catch I guess yours is a 1.6 also?

[dontmess]

Yeah your right stef123, just saw it on the information bit of catch's. catch is a MK2 1.6. Parts must be similar if not the same as mine as I have the 1.6 MK 2.5 (which is just the facelift I believe)

[catch]

dontmess, you got a good deal there in the end.

I had a quote for the hose job only from another Ford Dealer and that come in at £253. Tech time was quoted @ 1.25 hours.

I asked the guy who usually does my servicing, with me supplying the parts. But he wanted to see the job before quoting, as he had not done one on a Mk2 Focus. And even then said he could not fit it in any time soon, I reckon he did not want the job really. And it meant a 13 mile round trip just to show him the motor. Right now it's only done 3 miles since the pipe started leaking, and it's only another 1.5 miles to the Ford dealer to fix it, hence though there is leaked oil on the engine tray the belts and pulleys are dry. So seeing as the dealer rang Thursday saying the parts had arrive, it's going in Friday to get it sorted. So expecting it to be ball park £250 like the other Dealer quote.

And yes I would be interested to know what the parts were and how much they charged you for them including the Vat.

Last May I had a Air Con hose go which coincidently is "cheek by jowl " to the Power Steering hose! That cost £200 to get fixed at the Ford Dealer.

Never had issues like that on my Mk1 Focus that was 9 years old when it got wrote off in an accident. Or the Mondeo I had one year from being new and I had that for 9 years [scrapped that when the clutch went]

So you could say this Mk2 Focus is the least reliable of that trio of Fords. But that said I still rate Fords a better buy second hand than the expensive and repair prone French stuff out there.

[catch]

update [albeit a late one]

Had my local Ford dealer do the hose replacement job only, reusing the original auxiliary drive belts, and it cost me £261.

Regards the auxiliary belts, the logic behind that decision is: October 2013 the car will be eight years old and have circa 50k on the clock. Now I'm planning on PX'ing the car in say August 2014. But if when that time comes, I change my mind and decide to keep it say for another three years. Well in that case, I'll have the auxiliary belts replaced at the same time the timing belt is done.

Coincidently my car also came back with the power steering fluid way above the "Max" level mark on the reservoir when inspected the morning after. So I sucked out the excess steering fluid using the same curly plastic straw I used to suck out the water in my spark plug wells. Obviously I stop sucking when the fluid reaches the loop in the straw

Once decanted into a jam jar, which is as near as "a cat licking it's !Removed! without biting it" the same circumference as the reservoir at the Max level. It measured 2.5 cm up the side of the jar.

It does beg the question, why are mechanics incapable of filling fluids up to the required levels?

[stef123]

they are not mechanics or 'technicians' at the dealers, more like monkeys

[catch]

:lol:

My daughter disparagingly likens her local General Practitioner ..........to that of being a tyre fitter.

Maybe she is right, there again maybe it's just her being an anxious mother under stress when her young children are ill.

[GSM]

Some crazy prices on this thread for power steering pipe replacements...

What pipe was it that bust on yours? I had a pipe burst a few months ago - it was the reservoir to pump pipe that burst on mine, but obviously you need to replace both pipes and not just one when you change them (you can't buy them individually, they come as a pair, and the custom union joint into the power steering pump means that you can't remove only the defective pipe, you have to remove both simultaneously). It only cost me around £65 for the replacement pipe and I fitted it with help from my old man in about 40 minutes. No specialist tools required, no real need to take the car apart (took a headlight out, that's it, although it's fiddly work that could be slightly less fiddly if you took more of the car apart).

The most difficult part was getting the old pipes out of the custom union joints that Ford put on them as a sure-fire way to make money.

[ACFocus]

Hello,

I've been having problems with my 2006 1.6 LX Auto Focus - there's a leak somewhere in the power steering system but the car has been in and out of my local garage and they can't seem to find the leak anywhere!

Is it possible for the leak to be very hard to spot? I think I may need to take it to a main dealer or independent dealer but I'm a little worried about the potential costs! :-S

Thanks in advance :)

[stef123]

Hello,

I've been having problems with my 2006 1.6 LX Auto Focus - there's a leak somewhere in the power steering system but the car has been in and out of my local garage and they can't seem to find the leak anywhere!

Is it possible for the leak to be very hard to spot? I think I may need to take it to a main dealer or independent dealer but I'm a little worried about the potential costs! :-S

Thanks in advance :)

how much fluid is it loosing? with something like power steering i cant see how it would be hard to spot tbh

[Aurélio]

On 9/23/2012 at 5:28 PM, stef123 said:

how much fluid is it loosing? with something like power steering i cant see how it would be hard to spot tbh

It can be tricky to replace power steering hoses, if is the pressure one you'll need to replace the pump, as the nut have an O ring that's the main reason for the leaking and that nut needs to be done with the pump out off the engine otherwise you cannot do the job properly, believe me I tried both ways and had to buy an extra nut and O ring.

Now the price for the pump with both hoses and seals, nut, all parts included, I bought mine on eBay for £99 pounds, with 2 years warranty, been working fine soo far.

Eurocarparts price was £485 pounds, didn't even ask at Ford.

But it could be anywhere on the steering, any seal could be brocken, if I had money at the time the best thing would be to replace the steering rack too.

Good luck

[unofix]

Hello Aurélio, you "Win" this years prize for answering the oldest thread. The OP has only been waiting 9 years for someone to reply.