I have a leak out of the front part of the resevoir. Has anyone done this recently? I'm assuming there is a large O-ring in there somewhere. Is this a Saganaw power steering pump? I have the pump off but can't get seperate the pump and resevoir.
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Simon 80 240 300k 17 years. 'White Lightning'

Low tech fix is currently working. Liquid gasket is working so far. I'll use the time to get another reservoir from the yard.
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Simon 80 240 300k 17 years. 'White Lightning'

I put the rebuild kit into son's 81 and it's been dry since. The NAPA parts guy had no listing for an 81 Volvo, so I told him to give me the kit for a 1980-or-so Chevrolet. Same pump (GM-Saginaw) but with different relief valve specs. I think it was $15US. A big bench vise was a help in removing the reservoir from the pump body.

If you have distorted the thin metal reservoir body, leaks won't be cured by an O-ring kit...time to head for the junkyard. A Saginaw pump of that era will provide you with a reservoir for your Volvo pump, but don't think you can just swap in the entire GM pump as-is. To do that you'd have to install the Volvo relief valve and spring into the GM pump. So just use the reservoir and throw the rest away...anything from that era is probably well worn.
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Bob (son's 81-244GL B21F, dtr's 83-244DL B23F, 'my' 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, hobbycar MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

I've made a last attempt to salvage the reservoir with some liquid gasket. I'll head to junk yard tomorrow. Nice to have a few more vehicles to chose from. This all came about because I used a piece of broomhandle to lever the power steering pump to tighten the belt. I put a big dent in the reservoir. So don't try this at home. (or anywhere)
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Simon 80 240 300k 17 years. 'White Lightning'

I got the pump out of the resevoir. The resevoir is banged up from me trying to pry it as I tighten the belt. You can't by an O-ring separately from the resevoir kit which was very expensive. I'll make a trip to the junk yard tomorrow.
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Simon 80 240 300k 17 years. 'White Lightning'

Hello Simon:

The whole rebuild kit for the Saginaw pump was $13.xx CDN at a large national chain here in Canada-- everything here is a bit more expensive than in the States, so I'd advise looking further before giving up...

Rebuilding wasn't that bad-- I seem to remember a couple of c-clips that were a pain, but the rest was really straightforward. If you are still getting good pump pressure you may want to just replace the big o-rings and the copper crush washer where the pressure hose connects.

Good luck!

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Herb Goltz, London, Ontario, Canada '92 245 w/109K mi

Thanks for the info. I had the whole thing apart and back together. It still leaks. I'll look for a rebuild kit. I'm going to try Liquid Gasket as a last resort before I do anything else.
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Simon 80 240 300k 17 years. 'White Lightning'