It doesn't pay to get too smug when one's Citroen is 12 years old. The weep from the power steering pipe that started after I replaced the pump has now become a drip. It's on the low pressure side after the fluid exits the rack. The pipe heads off along the right-hand chassis leg past the crankshaft pulley where it's held by an ugly plastic clip. Cunningly, the drip turns to a spray when the steering wheel is turned and fluid has coated the sump under the pulley, looking to a pessimist as if the crankshaft oil seal has gone. The low pressure fluid that hasn't escaped then goes into the heat exchanger behind the number plate and back up to the reservoir. Pictures on Ebay show the assembly to be an unweildy, gangly insect comprising 12mm aluminium pipes and rubber hoses. I don't relish the extensive dismantling and reassembly; a scrapper's bit will have the same wear as I've discovered and a new part is close to the value of the car.
I plan to repair this by cutting the pipe and joining it up again with a 12mm plumbing straight coupling as I'm positive the pipe has worn through next to the clip through vibration or whatever. Access is good and my plumbing skills are satisfactory. Yes I know I'm making a corrosion battery but I hope it'll last a year.
Anybody care to offer any advice or rate my chances of success? There's now so much fluid on the new drive that Mrs H has unfeelingly made me park in the street.
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