Power steering fluid leak

aslupecki

aslupecki

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Supporting Member
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Dec 28, 2020
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Location
Milwaukee, WI
Hi all - I keep the Jeep at our family cottage, so I got it out of winter storage yesterday. Fired right up nicely, but ... the power steering feels "intermittent" so I checked the reservoir and it was empty. I topped it up with ATF+4 and went for a five minute drive & it's empty again. FWIW ... it was fine when I put it away in the fall.

Two questions:
1 - Is the Lucas stop leak likely to help if its losing fluid this fast or do I just need to do some cleaning and looking?
2 - Will I damage the pump or anything driving it like this?

It is an LJ with the 4.0L auto. Thanks!

Andy
 
No stop leak most likely won’t help. Steering system is fairly easy to work on. Find the leak and make the necessary repairs. It’s either a hose, pump or steering gear. Most likely a hose. If it’s leaking that fast it should be easy to spot the leak. Make sure you properly bleed the air from the system once repaired so you don’t burn up the pump if it hasn’t fried already.
 
Lucas Stop Leak for power steering systems fixed my previous TJ's PS leak, no idea if it'll work for the 2003 and newer TJs that have a different steering setup. They have two types as I recall, one is a PS fluid with stop leak added, the other is primarily a Stop Leak product made for PS systems. I used the latter which is a stronger version. Use a turkey baster to suck out as much of the old PS fluid (ATF+4) as possible and then add the entire bottle of the Lucas.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Lucas Stop Leak for power steering systems fixed my previous TJ's PS leak, no idea if it'll work for the 2003 and newer TJs that have a different steering setup. They have two types as I recall, one is a PS fluid with stop leak added, the other is primarily a Stop Leak product made for PS systems. I used the latter which is a stronger version. Use a turkey baster to suck out as much of the old PS fluid (ATF+4) as possible and then add the entire bottle of the Lucas.
Click to expand...

@Jerry Bransford I used above stop leak in October and it’a worked for my 02. Can I keep running leak stop or do I need to swap back to regular P/S fluid at some point.
 
Update for anyone having a similar issue. Upon some closer inspection, I was not losing all the ATF fluid as I reported. I also did some more reading on this site and learned I needed to bleed the system after refilling the reservoir. So, I followed @Jerry Bransford 's advice and emptied the reservoir and filled with the Lucas PS stop leak. I then jacked up the front end and did the steering back and forth to bleed the system and continued to top it up with the Lucas fluid. It's been a couple weeks and so far so good. Thanks Jerry and all the experts here!
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Lucas Stop Leak for power steering systems fixed my previous TJ's PS leak, no idea if it'll work for the 2003 and newer TJs that have a different steering setup. They have two types as I recall, one is a PS fluid with stop leak added, the other is primarily a Stop Leak product made for PS systems. I used the latter which is a stronger version. Use a turkey baster to suck out as much of the old PS fluid (ATF+4) as possible and then add the entire bottle of the Lucas.
Click to expand...

stopped the overnight drip which turned into a weep for a few weeks and currently no drips or weeps in my atf 03. only a few months into about a 2 ounce dosage though and all has been well with the Lucas.
 
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