S-Chassis.com - Power Steering Pressure Hose Replacement

I noticed one day how hard it was to turn the wheel at slow speeds and it hit me that my power steering was gone. I wanted to find out why so I checked and it turns out that there was a leak along the power steering pressure hose. Being the cheap @$$ that I am I tried to fix it for less cash by going to the junkyard and yanking a pressure hose off a junker 240SX. Cost me $10. The pressure hose came off the junk car with ease but taking off my own pressure hose was not so easy. I rounded off the hardline to pressure hose fitting and when I finally got the hardline fitting off the leaking hose and on the junkyard
pressure hose the fitting was so beat up that it leaked...curses!!! To fix it I finally decided to buy a new pressure hose($150) but today I got bored and so I went the junkyard and pulled yet another pressure hose, this time with the hardline connected, cost me $20.

Tools needed:
10mm wrench
14mm wrench
16mm wrench
Crescent wrench
Hammer
Drain pan
Phillips screwdriver
Flathead screwdriver
Prybar

My car didn't have emissions components so there was a lot of room to work with where the power steering hardlines are. If you have emissions then removing them for the time being will give you more room to manuever.

Attachment 23763
The first thing I did was take off my air filter to free up some more elbow room.
Attachment 23764
Then, you disconnect the power steering harness. Now would also be a good time to put a drain pan under the area for any fluid present in the system to drain to.
Attachment 23765
Now you need to remove the bracket that is holding the P/S hardlines near your rack and pinion to the frame of the car. You need a
10mm wrench to remove a bolt tucked under the bracket. The bolt is very small and hard to see but it's there.
Attachment 23766
Attachment 23767
Now you can move the hardlines around if you need to...and you will.
Attachment 23768
After that, you need the 16mm wrench to remove the larger hardline so that you can get to the smaller hardline which is on the new old P/S pressure hose. After unscrewing the larger hardline you can move it out the way which now gives you enough room to remove the smaller hardline with a 14mm wrench. TAKE CARE NOT TO ROUND OFF THESE FITTINGS, THAT IS A NO NO!!! On my car they came off with very little effort thank goodness! After three turns with the wrench I could unscrew them with my fingers. You may need a pry bar to pop them out of the rack and pinion. Next, take the bracket and the bushing that keep the hardlines mounted to the frame off. You can use a flathead screwdriver to pry the bracket apart.
Attachment 23769
The bracket
Attachment 23770
The bushing
Attachment 23771
Next, you need to remove the bracket on the pressure hose that mounts it to the tension rod bracket. Use a phillips screwdriver.
Attachment 23772
Now, you need to remove the P/S banjo bolt. You can use a wrench or a socket for this but I didn't have a wrench that big and it was really on tight so I pinched it hard with a pair of vice grips and whacked it one good time with a 3 lb. hammer to bust it loose. Would not advise this.
Attachment 23773
Attachment 23774
Take the banjo bolt off and you can take the entire P/S pressure hose and hardline out. The hard part is finished. Putting a pressure hose back on is easy just reverse what you did to take it off. Take the new old pressure hose and manuever it into place. Put the banjo bolt back on to hold it at the top. Before mounting the hardline bracket you need to put the hardlines back onto the bushing/bracket and insert them into the rack and pinion. Now you can tighten the hardline bracket/bushing back to the frame and the one on the tension rod bracket back into place. The banjo bolt is to be torqued to 36-51 ft. lbs. Plug the power steering harness back up and add power steering fluid to the system then bleed it by slowly turning the wheel to both sides, full rotation, while adding fluid to fill the resevoir. I've read that you could use automatic transmission fluid but I still don't know why...anybody? Check for leaks. If everything is ok then you should have your power steering back. Enjoy the drive.
Attachment 23775
Finished.

The power steering on the 240SX can be a pain if it starts to leak. Depending on where your leak is determines how much of a hassle your're going to have and how much money you're going to spend. If you have a leak in the small pressure hoses or the resevoir you can simply cut a new section or find another resevoir at the junkyard for pennies on the dollar. Also, a leaky or busted P/S pump is not at all hard to replace but getting the belt on and off is not a fun way to spend an afternoon. A minor inconvienience would be what happened to me, a leak somewhere along the pressure hose, then you can simply replace the pressure hose and hardline. A leak anywhere else would be a PITA which would probably require you to buy the $400 P/S hose system or a new rack and pinion...have fun with that! One more thing, the parts you get from a junkyard can be golden, you would be surprised at how good of condition these parts are in, although nothing beats getting a completely new part. The money that I saved yesterday I can put towards something else like the suspension upgrades or new tires. Giddyup!!!