Oil leak at front of van? Help please

Locate the large round brake servo mounted on the front beam. The master cylinder is attached to it with a fluid reservoir on top. You should see a rubber pipe going into the reservoir and the other end of the pipe would connect to the bottom of the filler and topping up reservoir above, under the seat. So you should easily locate it. As you think, the plastic reservoir under the seat may be hidden by thick carpet, so obviously you would need to move that away.

Sounds like the reservoir has been 'out of sight and out of mind' for a while. It should be checked regularly as part of the routine maintenance.

 

Check your rubber steering coupling,

 

Was that pic taken from a satellite?

 

golly where is it

 

Can i borrow your specs. I cant see it!

 

That rug needs a trim

 

My steering box weeps a bit of oil , not much at all to the point where i just check and top up every 2 years .
Is it leaking a lot ? put a container underneath and see if there is loads or not .
If not a lot just top it up and deal with it in the less used months of winter

 

must resist...........

 

i bet it's the fact the steering oil has got hotter than usual this last few hot days and has realistically been leaking for ages, i cleaned my box off when i had my bay it had obviously been leaking for years - in near 5 years of having it i only filled it once but it looked terrible to look at....

 

Is that you being subtle.

 

i don't think i can do subtle - at least that's what i'm told.

 

Nothing to do with your 0-60.

Its time you checked out the steering components and the brakes. Long overdue. Leaving the van on the farm and not maintaining it is unwise.

As mentioned, check the rubber coupling for cracking, splits or bending. It should be solid and in good condition. Any flexing would add to the steering wheel slop.

As I discovered, the steering on these vans is complicated with many parts, all of which could be a bit worn and add to the steering wheel slop. You would need to get someone to help you turn the steering wheel while you are underneath looking for wear and abnormal slack.

The oil leak from the steering box must be attended to as you don't want it to be low on oil or run dry. The box may be worn and can be adjusted by an expert to take up the slack but I understand it has to be done very carefully or the steering could bind.

As suggested, you could just keep topping it up and sort it over the winter. Probably need to remove it to sort.

 

There are more double entendres in this than when you try!

 

Can't you fill these things with grease ,is'nt it just a matter of lubrication...

 

No because the grease will be pushed away from the sliding metal surfaces, and the oil will run back.
You do really want to worry about taking good care of RHD steering boxes as they havent been made for a lot longer than LHD..


The steering box is not like wheel bearings where if the grease gets pushed away the bearing gets hotter so the grease melts and flows back into place...

Changing the seals is relatively straightforward but grimy because you have to remove the sticky mud/oil putty that covers the box. My steering box was so bad I could not see the red plug, and then I was worried about the filth getting in if I did remove it.

 

Not grease. Fill steering box with gear oil. Clean it up in situ, especially on the top around the red plastic filler plug, then prise out the plug and top up with oil.

Start doing some maintenance on your van rather than leaving it on the farm.

 

Grease will also catch the wearing detritus and form a grinding paste, oil will let it sink out of harm's way.