I have a 2002 Dakota Quad Cab with the 4.7. It's 2 wheel drive and automatic. It has 259,000 and still running pretty good. I'd tell you I'll drive it until the wheels fall off, but I did the ball joints last year.

Over the winter I noticed a power steering fluid leak. It was quite slow and I put off the work on it. The leak has become much worse. I'm filling the reservoir after 2 or 3 days. I have a couple of questions that I hope the community can help with.

What is the most likely culprit? I'm figuring on the pump, but want to be sure before I tear into it.

While I'm at it, what else should I change? Is it worth doing the high and low pressure hoses too?

What parts am I going to need? I'll probably go with a re-manufactured pump from O'Reilly that has the pulley included. It sounds like there can be some trouble getting the pulley off and putting the new one on. The price for the pump and pulley is not much more. And I shouldn't have to worry about 17 or 18mm.

Am I going to need the seal kit? Will my 10 year old reservoir be OK? And do I need any special tools? I saw a reference to a "line wrench".

The couple of forums I read indicate it's not a hard task. Anywhere from 30 minutes by a pro with experience to a couple of hours by a novice. If you know of any "gotcha's", I'd be most appreciative for the advice.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

That much?

Filling it every 2 or 3 days you should see that with ease that is a gusher get a strong flashlight and crawl under it and look check the pressure sensor they have a tendency to be the culprit.

New hoses are a good idea if you have the spare cash but they are pricy.

I don’t know the 4.7 I have the 2.5 but my swap was a breeze.

 

I would have thought there would be a lot of fluid where I park, but there isn't. There is a (several) drip puddle that might be 2" across. I'm guessing more fluid leaks when the truck is in motion.

 

Yes when driving the system is under pressure that is why you look for the leak with the engine running

 

I dont know how easy the 4.7 engine is to find the pressure senser is but pull off the wire plug and grab it feel if it is loose.

That is were my leak was and you could feel how loose it was


The sensor

 

"That is were my leak was and you could feel how loose it was"

Thanks Dak for taking the time to post a photo.

 

On my dads truck 97 ram 1500 it started leaking but you could only find it when someone was moving the steering wheel. So it might help to have someone move the steering wheel while you have the engine running and shine a flashlight in around there to see if you can see where it is coming from. He had a pin hole in his pressure line.

 

I have a 2004 1500 Quad cab and I started getting a leak. It had been hit on the left front tire a few years back so I know the staring must have been messed with when they repaired it. It looked like the leak was coming from the cooler around the return line because there was fluid drips running down it. I replaced the line because it was hard and I still have leaks. I pulled the cooler and cleaned the connection tubes and put new worm clamps on them. Still getting leaks and I understand the system has 1650 psi on the high side but it still seems to be coming from the cooler connections. I'm about read to silver solder brass pipe fitting to the cooler and get braided hi pressure lines made for it.

 

This is just a follow up. I did the pump this weekend. Two hours? Who said that?

Almost every replacement pump came with a pulley so I didn't have to worry about 17 or 18 mm pulley shaft. Most likely a ploy to keep the parts stores from stocking two different pumps. Besides, even with the required special pulley puller, you're probably going to break the pulley, especially if your truck has the nylon pulley instead of the metal. The pulley that came with my re-manufactured pump was metal. I paid $128 for the pump, several dollars for a low pressure return line, and a few bucks for fluid and a variety O ring kit. I also paid about $10 for two cans of brake cleaner to spray off all the excess fluid that was on just about everything. That comes to about $160 for the job. There was a $35 core charge so you may want to pull the old pump and take it with you to get the new(ish) pump.

The rebuilt pump did not come with a reservoir. None of them did. A NEW pump did, but it cost $375. The reservoir comes off with the removal of 3 bolts.

While doing the job, I also replaced the upper radiator hose. There was a pretty good dribble where the pressure cap was. I replaced every spring loaded hose clamp I came across with the curse free type.

A few notes on the procedure. I put the truck on jack stands. I think they're safer, take up less room underneath and let me turn the wheels to bleed out the lines after the new pump was installed.

I used a small pan to catch as much fluid as possible.

As hinted above, I removed the upper radiator hose for easier access (maybe a requirement). I also pulled the battery for the same reason.

When removing the pump, you can easily get to the nut and two bolts with a deep socket THROUGH the holes on the pulley. The bolt on the bottom is hidden from view, but easy to find with the tip of your finger. If you've never put your finger in a hole like that, it will probably come naturally to most folks. ;-)

I removed the old pump with the high and low pressure line still connected to it. It was a whole lot easier to disconnect them from the rack(?). The low pressure line had a compression clamp. It will have to be replaced. And I tore up the line removing the clamp. That's not a concern because the replacement hose and no curse clamp was only about $5.

The pump came with a set of O ring gaskets, one of which went on the high pressure line where it went into the pump. All the O rings were not necessary. Do yourself a favor and buy the variety pack of O rings for $3. You're going to need one for the other end. I learned that the hard way.

I didn't notice an O ring on the reservoir when I removed it. But one of the new rings fit, so I used it. It took a little effort to get the reservoir on the new pump, but it did go on.

A last note. I didn't need any special tools, unless you consider a deep socket special. And I could have used a short extension there. Everything was metric. The high pressure line needed an 18mm open end wrench to free it from the rack.

This might sound kind of trivial to those of you that are comfortable working on your vehicles. I hope my experience as a non-mechanic will help someone who is apprehensive about taking on a job like this. Thanks for everyone that gave me advice and encouragement. It really does help.

Tom

 

So the pressure sensor was not the leak or you just decided to change out pump anyway?