Power Steering Return Line Leak (4 Viewers)

[TLC4K2]

Hey everyone. Our '83 FJ60 has recently been going through a surprising amount of power steering fluid, so this weekend I took a looksie and discovered a leak. Thankfully it's at a very specific location, where the (I believe) return line comes out of the steering gearbox, on its way to cool down before going back to the reservoir. Here's a picture of the leak location, indicated with a red arrow. This picture was taken from the driver's side front fender, with the air intake hose removed to make it easier to see:

A closeup of the same picture shows the sheen of the leak which seems to be coming up between the nut and the tube, NOT between the nut and the body of the steering gearbox:

I used carb cleaner to clean off the hard line, then felt along the line to see if I could feel any cracks or creases. None that I could detect. Then I tried to gently turn that nut just to see if it had somehow loosened, and it was rock solid. I didn't want to try to tighten it any further because I didn't want to damage that hard metal tube. Is there some kind of gasket or O-ring in there that might have worn out? Or should I just replace the tube itself, and maybe the nut? It looks like I can get just the hard tube from SOR but I'm not sure if it comes with the nut as well. I'm also not sure if I need to do anything with where it goes into the steering gearbox, other than clean it up. The Haynes book didn't mention this at all. Suggestions for how to proceed? Thanks all!

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

It's a flared pipe and nut, the seal is between the flared end of the pipe and a brass seat in the steering box. Remove the pipe and see which needs replacing - pipe, seat or both. You can buy the seats new from Toyota. A hydraulic shop could easily make the pipe for you, reusing the metric nut that's on there perhaps.

 

[BrownDog1]

I have a similar issue with my fj60 power steering gear box leaking at the return line port. I tried both a 16mm and a 5/8 connection at the port in the power steering box with no luck. The threads in that port seem to be in good shape and the brass insert is still in place - I believe you can see that in the photo. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Was there a larger sized connection at some point for these return ports? OD on each threaded connector was .620" or 15.75mm on the first connector and .628" or 16mm on the second. Was the OEM connector the same as either of these? Is there a better off the shelf connector I should pick up? OD on the threads on a functioning connector would be usefull information.

Any insight would be appreciated - Thanks

 

[TLC4K2]

I ended up replacing that hard elbow tube that comes out of the gearbox and sends power steering fluid out to the rest of the system. I never did see any holes, nicks or wear in the tube I took out, but putting in a new one several months ago has sealed things up nicely. HTH.........