Power Steering Leak

[dars00]

I was given a 95 ford windstar given to me last year by a family member, this vehicle sat around for a year and now I am trying to get it fixed, or I should say my husband is. We have a powersteering leak at the cooler and the garage told dh to just bypass the cooler, I am fearful of this as I know that these vehicles run hot on the ps. Do any of you guys have any thoughts on this I won't let him do anything till I hear back from you guys. Thanks in advance Dar

[mwedding]

Most of my experience working on cars is with older vehicles, so take my advice with that caution.

If you are looking for a cheap fix, bypassing the cooler will probably not cause a problem. Most older vehicles, and several newer vehicle do not have a cooler for the power steering fluid. however, the cooler was put in by engineers for a reason, and with constant pressure for cost reductions, they wouldn't add a cooler for no reason. These vehicles are designed and tested to operate in various environments. With few exceptions, each vehicle is designed to operate in extremely hot environments, and extremely cold environments.

If you live in a moderate to cold climate, and are looking to patch this gift up to drive for a year or so until you can afford something else, you may want to take the gamble to bypass the cooler....

If you live in a warmer to hot environment, and/or want to protect the gift of this van because you can't afford the gamble, I'd spend the money to buy a cooler. You can probably get one from a salvage yard pretty reasonably.

MWedding
Development Engineer (but not on automobiles)

[garync1]

You can bypass but after hearing others about problems I would try to
repair the leak or swap from a junker.No sence in having a problem come sooner because you may end up with a problem later any way having to replace the pump.But if its only going short trips you can get by for a little while.My pump whines a little now on my 2000. Going to change the fluid and see if the stops it the fluid gets hot and degrades over time.hope this helps...

[wiswind]

I would install an after market cooler.
You can buy one online from many places.....and they are not expensive.
The power steering cooler is a smaller version of a transmission cooler. Should be very easy to replace.

[dars00]

Originally Posted by wiswind

I would install an after market cooler.
You can buy one online from many places.....and they are not expensive.
The power steering cooler is a smaller version of a transmission cooler. Should be very easy to replace.

I want to thank everyone for your help we will be getting a new cooler and installing it. I hope this is it for awhile. Again thanks. Dar