benholy78

Scott701, how did you determine it was the Tower Seal?? Was your power steering fluid getting low?? I have a leak on the rack and pinion, but cant determine where. The fluids are all good, however the underside of the rack and pinion is still from fluid leak??

Scott701

I never did correct this post. My problem was not in the rack and pinion at all..

Background:

While driving (150 miles after having my head cracked open for a spark plug removal ) I heard my front iwes partially engaging as though I was losing vacuum. Went underneath to find a red fluid beading off the check valve along the very bottom of the frame. Because there appeared to be reddish fluid covering the rack and pinion "tower seal" (as I learned about later) I figured it was power steering fluid... it wasn't.

The reddish fluid was actually motor oil (not sure why it was reddish, maybe mixed with rust from the undercarriage???) that had spilled all over everything because the guy who removed and dissembled my engine must have carelessly, or angrily, took the oil filter off while the engine was still in the truck and made a huge oily mess of everything . The oil filter is in a very tricky spot to reach, not sure why he did it that way if he already intended to pull out the whole motor....

Anyhow, after like 5 months now of checking my fluids daily like a crazy person, I have noticed no loss of any fluids, and no problems with my steering. In fact, a few months ago I pressure washed the undercarriage and after checking things out periodically have noticed no new oily buildup.

Conclusion:

I change my own oil now and pack the splash-guard thingamajig beneath the oil filter with paper towels to keep oil from getting all over my vacuum lines and rack and pinion. No new problems, no new messes.

My rack and pinion is fine.

If you are losing fluid, you will most likely see it upon visual inspection of the undercarriage. If you don't see it, maybe its gathering inside the rubber boots...???...

If your fluid is not actually dropping, and you see greasy fluid all over your rack and pinion, it could be motor oil that is being slopped around while removing your oil filter. I have a 5.4 3v, and nothing is tidy about these engines.