What is the usual remedy for a power steering rack that is leaking on the passenger side? The mileage on the car is 82.5K.
Thanks

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suus 00 S70 base M

if you have the normal p/s fuid not the mineral oil based stuff.try some lucas p/s stop leak worked for me.

Hi,
Is this a leak or is it just weeping? A mechanic told my wife that her 850 had a leak & the rack should be replaced soon. That was over a year ago & upon inspection by me I figured it was merely weeping. We keep an eye on reservoir & the brake fluid level really doesn`t go down much at all.
Your situation may be different but as Klaus said"How serious is it?"
Rich

It's leaking where the inner rod goes into the rack and the boot is filling up with fluid.

BTW, the passenger side inner tie rod ends were replaced 7 months, 7500 miles ago. Could this work be related to the leak?

Thanks
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suus 00 S70 base M

That leak warrants a new rack, sorry. And I doubt that work done on the inner tie rods would have contributed, unless an alignment was not done and you wound up correcting your steering for 7K miles.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

Bummer. An alignment was done when the tie rod ends were replaced. Would you classify this type of leak as normal wear out or a defect/bad design?

Thanks
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suus 00 S70 base M

Neither. It depends on how the car is used abused. With only 82K miles, it should not have failed for another 100K miles. But, if the previous owner turned the steering to lock and left it there a lot, that will shorten the life considerably. Kind of like my daughter :)

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

I'm the only owner of the car and I tend to easy on it. When you say "turned the steering to lock and left it there a lot", are you referring to parking the car or doing something like a U-turn or something entirely different?

Thanks
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suus 00 S70 base M

Turning the wheel to lock, while the engine is running, such as parallel parking, u-turns, etc. place an enormous strain on the rack. You should be able to hear the PS pump working when that happens. The owners manual even states that one should not leave the wheels in such a strained position more than 15 secs. The pump pressure gets too high and starts blowing seals.
My daughter does that when backing out of the driveway, she has it as far as it turns even when going through the gutter. I cringe when ever I hear her back out. It is seldom more than 10 secs, but when she waits for a car or truck to go by it could be 15-20 secs. Just a bad habit :)

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

Sounds like backing out of my driveway into narrow roads, which requires a sharp turn to avoid hitting "illegally" parked cars, may have cut my power steering rack life short.

Does your Volvo 854 or V70 user manual state anything about not straining the power steering? I'm not able to find that info in mine. Then again, the manual's index and Table of Contents leave a lot to be desired.

Thanks
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suus 00 S70 base M

I re-read the 1995 owners manual and came up empty. Perhaps it was one of those general question articles in the newspaper?
Regardless, when you turn the steering wheel to lock and hear the pump make noise, it is best to just back off an inch to keep the pressure down. It will not make a difference in your turning radius, but will make a big difference to your rack.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

It depends on the severity of the leak. Most often it is just a failed O ring.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)

I added more info in my reponse to rancher rick.
Thanks
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suus 00 S70 base M