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My 2001 9-3 SE has been sitting for about a year and a half (stopped driving regularly during the covid shutdown). I'm trying to get her back on the road. In the process of removing the battery, I started to hear fluid running/dripping; it appears that while removing the battery, jostling of the hoses to the power steering fluid reservoir caused some leaks to both hoses... It doesn't look like the rubber has deteriorated, it appears that it was rodent damage; my guess is that they damaged the cables to the point where the disturbance caused by removing the battery was enough to break through the rest of the way to cause the actual leak. So there are two pretty well-defined holes in what appear to be otherwise structurally sound hoses.
Here's my plan of attack based on some reading here and other forums. Please chime in if I am about to do anything stupid.
1. Clean both hoses as thoroughly as possible (I saw someone recommend using brake cleaner - although its not clear to me that this is a good idea on a rubber hose??)
2. Wrap each hole with rescue tape. I think on the 'top' hose it should be easy enough to wrap in-place; the lower hose I may need to un-clamp and then wrap with easier access, and then re-clamp
3. Fill the reservoir, observe for any leaks. I'm assuming this will go fine (as long as I can get a good seal on the tape)
4. Follow the Haynes manual procedure for replacing the power steering fluid
5. Assuming the above still doesn't reveal any leaks, idle the engine for a while and continue to observe for leaks.
Assuming all of the above goes well, begin driving the car regularly, while keeping an eye on power steering fluid levels... If a slow leak is present, either drive to a service station, or replace the damaged portion of the hoses on my own.
How difficult is the procedure? Should I be attempting to source full OEM replacements, or just splicing new hose in place of the damaged parts?
thanks in advance for any guidance!
graham
posted by 172.58.109...
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