abakja1

iTrader: (20)

Hey repair gurus,. need your information and help..

I am working on my friend's 2005 Legacy GT wagon 5 speed with over 100k miles on it. From what he needed was a valve cover gasket replacement as I found both half moons cracked thus the oil was dumping on his uppipe causing a lot of smoke and oil burning..

After a day and a half of the gasket sealant drying and I buttoned everything up, I started the car to let it idle and to check for oil leaks from any of the valve covers. But the only fluids that turned out to leak was the power steering fluid from the resevoir. Valve covers are ok so far, but I havent been able to test drive the car yet, but that not the problem right now.

While working on the passenger side, the PS hose is on that side and I did have to move it up and dowm to get the valve cover off and back on. Thread searches on lgt.com state that I might have moved the line enough to damage to the ps pump o ring or introduce air in to the line, so I bought the PS Pump O ring from Subaru today, siphoned out the resevoir of old fluid and put in new Dex VI fluid.

There is still bubbling and the ps pump whining noise so I need to know whether:

1. Either the PS Pump is bad amd decided to go by coincidence, car has over 100k miles on it.
2. Maybe there is a hole in the line from the resevoir to the PS Pump even though there is no fluid leaking anywhere that I can see or after the car sitting in the garage for 3 days now.
Maybe one of the hoses is sucking in air, but can this happen since there is no fluid leakage?
3. Or both.

I looked under the car and there are no leaks at rest or with the car running,..Is there a line that can be pinched if I had to jack up the engine a little to get access to the spark plugs and valve covers when I did the VC gasket change?

Need Help and info..
I live in salt lake too so if anyone can come over to chime in that would be great...

View My Video

Faskind

Hi, normally i see that when the suction hose from the reservoir has any (even the smallest) leak. Is your hose very stiff like plastic? Start there first, it is the cheapest and normally alleviates the problem. Also make sure fluid level is correct, If leak is small the line will look good with no leaks but cause your problem i can swing by on my way home today if u are free, just after 6ish??
Lmk

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

^^ thanks faskine for the offer, but i got a call from Brent while i was picking my girls up from school. He suggested i seat i seat the o ring in the ps pump and put the male fitting and hose in top of it. Good thing i bought 2 o ring as the original one had already stretched out as i placed it on the male end when i First installed it,..

Seems to have worked but how do i get all of the air out of the system?

The bubbles/foaming looks more like a simmer in the resevoir so i turkey basted out the aerated ps fluid and put in fresh ps fluid and idled the car in the air while turning the wheels left and right slowly with the front end on jackstands. I repeated this method until the ps fluid doesnt look as aerated or with little bubbles in it. I did this about 6 times and there still a little air in the system, but the ps pump and steering is feeling much more normal now.

Should i continue this method of bleeding as the fluid should settle down tomorrow? Or is the o ring not sealed properly again? It seems to be to me though,..

spinplay01

iTrader: (12)

There IS currently air in the system.

Add fluid. Turn steering wheel out and back from lock to lock...multiple times. That noise is fine. Just keep doing it until it stops (normal bleeding procedure)or until you find a leak.

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

We'll after a few more days of trying to bleed the system, I think that there is still a leak/hole etc etc in the system cause there still is a gurgle or simmering bubble in the reservoir. As you already know, i put a new OEM o ring in the pump a few days ago and seated the supply hose on top of that and that got rid of most of the ps resevoir bubbling. Since then I have been bleeding the system to no avail.

I was thinking about replacing the short and the long rubber hose going from the reservoir to the PS pump as that was the only thing that I touched in the valve cover install, but I'm really not sure if that would solve the problem. I may just buy a replacement oil hose as I don't have time to go to Subaru tomorrow unless someone can pick up the hoses for me if you're going to the parts department tomorrow and I'll pay you back when we meet. Anyways,...

Anyone else have any thoughts as I'm lost to the bubbling PS fluid. I don't think continuing to bleed the system if the reservoir still bubbles which mind indicates a leak somewhere.

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

Ad more threads and another solution was to replace the hose clampson all of the hose going to the ps pump and returnng to the resevoir. Well i replaced them all hoping that would solve the problem and of course it did not. I will try replacing the o ring with a non subar one since parts dept is closed today to see if that will help.

Also, does anyone know if it matters if one needs t keep all the correct bends in the hoses? I was thinking of just rplacing all the rubber hoses with oil hoses from oreilly since again the pats dept is closed. I want to get this remedied by this weekend.

Thanks for any replies,..

spinplay01

iTrader: (12)

Pressurize the system, find the leak, and fix it.

You are using Dextron III ATF, correct?

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

Yes Chad, using Valvoline dexron vi synthetic which is dexron iii compatible. I took off the. Oem hoses. And bought some Gates multipurpose hoses. Noticed a lot Of Smaller l Cracks At the end. Of. The. Oem. Hoses Which was hard and Cracked. Hope it Helps as I Will Refill And. Check Tomorrow for bubbling.

Children are sick Which sucks right now With their Fevers And Runny noses. Poor things.

spinplay01

iTrader: (12)

Remove hoses from reservoir, block off one, attach other to air compressor on low pressure setting. If there is a leak you should find it. Dye and UV light can also be used to help trace it.

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

This is what I was thinking of doing but without the UV light and dye since I dont have any. Thinking of just spraying soapy water around the end of the rubber hoses with the worm gears clamps.

How much air pressure is enough? 20psi?

spinplay01

iTrader: (12)

double atmospheric should do it, don't want to go too high

Faskind

Hey man, lmk if you havnt rectified the problem by tuesday im sure i can swing by after work and help you out
Sometimes these things are a pain, haha

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

Thanks again for your help.
I bought some gates multi purpose hoses and replaced the OEM ones.
Problem fixed!!
The problem wasn't the vacuum side hose going to the PS pump,but the smaller return hose had hairline cracks at the ends.
The engine looks like old school hot rod now since the gates hoses are orange and much thicker in diameter, but I kinda like the retro look. Also, it only cost me like $20 inhoses , when I believe OEM Subaru would probably cost a whole lot more. The hoses for the passenger side valve cover would've been like $12 and $47, so I'm sure the hoses for the PS pump would be similar in price.

Anyways , thanks for all the replies and offers to help. It was just a little frustrating starting then stopping working on them problem since both my twin 2 1/2 yr old daughters are currently going thru growing pains thus the 100+ degree fevers. One of my daughters had a scary moment as she had a seizure and foamed at the mouth due to a really high fever spike that we got under control after a cold sponge bath and some ibuprofen.

Faskind

No worries, glad it worked out
As for the kids, i know (half) what you feel. My 2 year old was burning up too the other day!! Coupled with an ear infection and some teeth growing in he has been a bit irritated but doing better. I hope yours do better soon!!!

abakja1

iTrader: (20)

Called subaru and the 2 hises for the ps pump would run close to $160.

I guess if you want to look factory, you could buy them but you would run into similiar problems down the road,.,for $20 i got orange gates hoses which look more robust and resistant to heat and cheaper to replace,..you could get them at either napa or oreilly, but be sure to have them comp imternet prices as it cheaper than in store prices.