I just bought a '98 ram van 1500 and it has a power steering leak. I added orileys power steering fluid and saw that the leak was coming from a one of the hoses. it appears to be leaking at the connection point where the hose is clamps onto the reservoir. if i am wrong what should i do next to diagnose the leak further?

 

Pressure hose? Or return hose? If there is a clamp on it, just tighten the clamp. If it is a crimped connection, (pressure side) need to replace the hose.

 

Have a look in your manual to see what kind of power steering fluid is required. It may require hydraulic fluid direct from Mopar, not transmission or common power steering fluid. The Part # provided in the manual will tell you this.

Diagnosing it will require some cleaning and getting a closer look at it. Hopefully you can just tighten it as mentioned above but the reservoir may be the problem. Rock Auto has photos of all the parts you will encounter so you can use their website to determine what you are looking at. Do not get your fingers or rags close to any moving parts when looking around or crawling underneath, you can lose body parts very quickly...