302Rover
Member
Well, not exactly 'leaks' but does overflow through the filler cap. Here is the situation: I fitted a power steering box from a 3500S into my highly modified 2000TC, coupling the box to a Saginaw pump/reservoir unit (so called 'Ham Can'). The limited real estate under the bonnet, with the Ford 302 V8 taking up a lot of space, dictated the position of the pump relative to the steering box. The reservoir, therefore, is a couple of inches below the box return fitting.
Today I started the car after it had been sitting for a week or so, and noticed a lot of fluid coming out of the top of the reservoir, past the filler cap. And the power steering wasn't working, probably because all the fluid had drained out of the box, down into the reservoir. So my question is this: have I designed in a fundamental flaw by placing the reservoir below the box? Or is there something else going on that I don't understand about the system?
Originally I had a remote reservoir (salvaged from a Jaguar Mk2) and it was placed higher than the steering box. This system used a separate pump with no integral reservoir and all seemed to work well. But the pump failed and I decided to 'neaten up' the engine compartment by going to the combination pump/reservoir. If necessary I will return to the remote reservoir scheme but before I do I would like to understand the system better and what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom
Today I started the car after it had been sitting for a week or so, and noticed a lot of fluid coming out of the top of the reservoir, past the filler cap. And the power steering wasn't working, probably because all the fluid had drained out of the box, down into the reservoir. So my question is this: have I designed in a fundamental flaw by placing the reservoir below the box? Or is there something else going on that I don't understand about the system?
Originally I had a remote reservoir (salvaged from a Jaguar Mk2) and it was placed higher than the steering box. This system used a separate pump with no integral reservoir and all seemed to work well. But the pump failed and I decided to 'neaten up' the engine compartment by going to the combination pump/reservoir. If necessary I will return to the remote reservoir scheme but before I do I would like to understand the system better and what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Tom