Power Steering pump went out on my 5.2l about a month ago, had a buddy of mine help me put in a new one which seemed like a simple enough task. A couple weeks later i noticed a huge puddle of the power steering fluid under the truck and now I have to fill her up about every few days or so. I can't figure out where the heck it's leaking from though, the hose connections seem tight. For lack of a better word there seems to be a red plastic "plug" on the back side of the pump that seems to be where the fluid is coming from. Looks to be an overflow for the fluid though as it's pretty high up and I can't for the life of me figure out how all of the fluid would leak out of it. Any ideas? Pardon my ignorance if i'm being moronic and there is an easy fix to this. Thanks ya'll

 

You do know that there is 2 lines that connect to the back of the pump right?

 

yes, there are two, and both are connected and tight

 

Ok, then I don't know what that plug is you are talking about. Bottom line is, nothing should be leaking out of the system anywhere obviously.

 

obviously. I'll try and take a pic of the red plug thing tomorrow when its light out. It's to the left and above both of the hoses on the back of the pump. I supposed I could have gotten a defective pump but i don't think the chances of that are very high. I figure i may have air in the lines but not sure how that would make it all leak out like that.

 

Air won't cause it to leak. Clean everything off really well, and then drive it. If it is dumping that much fluid, it should be easy to find on a clean surface.

Getting a bad pump isn't really a stretch either. Did you get just the pump? Or, did it have the tank already on it?

 

I got the new pump with the tank/res already on it. Another forum I frequent as well as someone at work mentioned to me that when there are red plugs on parts like waterpumps it indicated a part (even a small seemingly pointless bolt) that you need to swap from the old pump, so i'm going to guess I didn't do that. Because i have cleaned it off and it's deffinitely coming from that plug. Problem being that since there was a core charge, i already returned the old pump, looks like i'll be taking a trip to the junk yard to see if I can find any kind of small bolt or plug in an old pump and take it out.