Leaking power steering system, again....

[coldpizza]

Anybody else have this recurring problem?? About 2-3 weeks ago, I heard a 'growling' noise from under the hood upon turning the steering wheel while driving in traffic (not freeway). Brought it immediately to the nearest dealer (near my office). They said it was the power steering pump. Well after having the car for 3 business days (wrong parts delivered to dealer is what they said) plus the weekend (no towing the boat or fishing that weekend) they pronounced that it was repaired and that they replaced the power steering pump.

Well, the growling came back yesterday afternoon (less than 2k miles since the PS pump replacement). Got home and crawled all around looking for a leak (checked the PS fluid level and it was low). Saw signs of fluid leakage on top of front axle on driver's side as well as the top of the shock and down to the steering knuckle on driver's side. Couldn't actually see the source (didn't look too hard as it was dark and the prospect of crawling under the X, laying in the dripping fluid was not too appealing). I filled the PS reservoir and went to bed.

This morning I took it to a dealer that handles Ford Trucks on a regular basis. By the time I got there, I had no power steering or power brake boost. The service manager mentioned something about a 'hydraboost' (sp?) system, and that it was tied in to the power steering and power brakes (it is used in lieu of vacuum system because of the lack of vacuum in the diesel). He indicated he had seen this before, although not very frequently.

As much as I love driving my X, I am getting very frustrated with it's reliability (and glad that I purchased the extended Ford factory warranty). I am stuck today (an unusual day off for me) not being able to take the boat out again, and with the uncertainty that the service dept will figure this problem out once & for all.

Anybody have any tips our thoughts???

Len

Oops, pretty long post, thanks in advance for anyone that read the whole thing, especially the ranting [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]