I've made the leap from wagon lurker to wagon owner

whoa....did I miss something? What's leaking where and from which car??:confused:

 

Sorry 'Fox. I put a post over in the "What have you done to your wagon lately" thread and figured it made more sense for me to continue it here.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=180551&postcount=824

I pulled the wagon out and found it was leaking what appears to be oil from underneath the steering column. No idea yet just what is actually leaking.

 

What color is the fluid? Pink for trans fluid, typical engine oil, PS fluid, brake fluid, antifreeze - lots of options. Even an overactive battery can leak fluid. Just wondering..............

 

Sounds like California??? Dig the color scheme Boss!

 

Looks like typical engine oil to me, but it appears to be coming from the vicinity of the steering column. I'm assuming it must be PS fluid.

 

I took a deeper look at my wagon leak the other day and I think I've reached the point where I'm in over my head.

I removed the intake system from the manifold forward so that I could get a good look under there and I slid the steering column shield up to see what's what. It looks to me like the seal on the Power Steering Gear is bad. It must have completely dried out over the winter judging by the way it squirts fluid when I turn the wheels. I suspect that I'll have to take it in to have it repaired. I'm learning, but I don't know if I've learned enough to feel comfortable tackling this. I haven't determined yet if it will hold together well enough to drive it to my mechanic or if I'll have to get it out of the garage and have it towed. Fortunately, removing all of the intake components meant lots of cleaning before they could be put back in. I took it all out and cleaned it last year but it was pretty messed up again from sitting in the body shop for two months last summer. The rest of the engine is still covered in body shop dust but as least part of the engine compartment now is shiny like-new black plastic. Just like I like it!


On the upside, I had it in my head that I had to do a smog test on the wagon next month but it turns out that I don't need to do it until next year. Having to do it next month meant that I had to get the steering issue fixed to get it to the shop within the next two weeks. Now I can renew my registration without having to move the wagon. The extra time could let me build up enough courage to tackle the repair myself. It will have to wait a little bit now as I had to put new upper ball joints in the Marquis to get a safety pass and The Mrs' Sebring needed new front brakes. The Mercury also decided ON THE WAY TO HAVING IT SAFETIED that the correct "off" position for my wipers was straight up in the middle of the windshield. They couldn't safety it without fixing that as well. I had them put a new remanufactured wiper motor in as they couldn't find a replacement clutch and I wasn't nuts on the way it was traveling. The far "up" position seemed to be right in my field of view when the wipers were on. Not a huge expense but if it could have waited even 24 hours to fail I could have fixed that on my own later on. Driving home last night made me remember just how much I enjoyed driving these Panthers. Even with the off-center drivers seat, that's still one comfortable car!

 

In the interim, have you considered Lucas to stop/slow that leak? They make a power steering variety. I don't typically believe in that kind of stuff, but one of my Caprices had a leaky box that wasn't worth the effort to fix and it worked quite well.
As far as your Marquis is concerned- I had the horn fail on mine going to get inspected right before work one day. Quite frustrating! Pulled over, cleaned up the grounds, put it back together and then the guy didn't bother to test it as he got distracted by talking about my wagon.

 

I pondered that but the leak is so severe, I figured it would be like a Band Aid on a bullet wound.

 

Well I had the Buick towed in to the shop last night and my mechanic worked on it today. It turned out that I was right the first time and the leak was a brake line and not the power steering gear after all. I was planning on cleaning up some rust on the frame where the brake lines travel this summer, looks like the rust took out a brake line before I got to it. I've got the brake line fixed now and actually got to drive the wagon home. It felt good. I had a few tense moments on the way back to the house when smoke started coming out from under the hood. It turned out that my mechanic had done me the favour of coating the rusted portions of the frame with undercoating. Some of the overspray got onto the exhaust manifold and was burning off. I was pretty relieved to find it was no big deal but now I've got a mess to clean up when I detail the engine compartment.

Today was my birthday so I snuck out of work early to pick up the wagon and head back home to try and get my last aluminum rim polished. The MIL turned up a bit later to wish me a happy birthday so I never actually got the rim finished but I'm so close to getting those wheels installed now that I can taste it.

 

Happy Birthday and glad the problem was actually minor. Burning oil, grease, paint, etc. can be scary when you see and smell smoke coming fronm your toy!:dancingparty:

 

Wiz....plese see the Community Center section. I am SO sorry I missed your birthday! BUT...it wasn't my fault. A glitch, apparently! Happy Birthday, my good friend!

 

Happy Birthday fellow Taurusian I just had my B-day last week. Hope you enjoyed your cake. Now get out there and get those rims on.

 

They say glitches happen once you reach a certain age 'Fox. I don't yet know what age that is, presumably you do.

Actually I'm just messing with your head. I wondered why it didn't show up too and found that my birthday was hidden in my profile so I unhid it later. It's funny that I chuckled as I did it thinking that it's sudden appearance might get you going.

 

And why were we not aware of this birthday????

 

Thanks for the wishes Fannie. I started polishing when I got hom but wound up chatting with my Mom-in-law for a couple of hours after she stopped by instead. Once the Mrs came home from work it was only a short time until my parents stopped by for a couple of hours. That last rim sits out on the table in my garage semi-polished. Maybe I'll get it finished this weekend.