940 steering rack high pressure hose removal

itsabitsa

With a pink slip on the horizon, it was time to give the 940 a health check.

Much like me, it's got a year older and degraded slightly. And I've been topping up the power steering fluid with increasing regularity. I knew there was a slight weep at one boot, but the volume of fluid consumed (thanks @ramrod ) suggested the high pressure hose was leaking.

A quick inspection confirmed fluid squirting out where the flexible hose meets the metal pipe at a prodigious rate. At least it's not the rack I thought... all I have to do is take off the high pressure hose, get it re-crimped, and refit it. Shouldn't take too long.

**Pause for all the rwd old hands to laugh**

Turns out that it is an utter pig of a thing. It may be possible to remove it with the rack loosened and column disconnected, but still very tight (and then how do I get it back in?).

Does anybody know of any tricks to do this?

For the uninitiated, this pipe

has to go through the gap between the (red) sump in the centre of the picture and the cross member immediately below.

Major Ledfoot

Nobody's replied yet?

Not that any of us old-timer RWD people are laughing, it's more like getting over the PTSD of similar experiences.

From stripping down a 740 and a 940, seems to me the only way to get the hose off is either dropping the rack and also the crossmember while keeping the engine in a sling, or lifting the engine. Most of the PS hoses I've seen are routed under the front of the engine and are a major PITA to get to.

Maybe others know of different ways to do it.

The dead hose - when eventually extracted - then goes off the the Enzed or Pirtek folks to get high quality high pressure hose fitted on the old fittings, or sometimes you can be lucky and they have matching fittings. You never want to do this more than once. Ever.

itsabitsa

^That's pretty much the sum of it. I've canvassed far and wide on this one, and major surgery is looking inevitable. Also conscious that **as soon as I loosen the subframe or disconnect the column** the car becomes a static exhibit.

Interestingly, there aren't too many forum threads / youtube videos on 740 / 940 PS hose replacement. I'd have thought that, given the location, the high and low pressure hoses would have a not insignificant fail rate (stones / roadkill, heat, vibration etc). The other Volvo 'eccentricities' like flame trap and in-tank fuel pump produce a lot of results, but not this one. Is it maybe just too traumatic to recount?

I've got a bad back and struggle to torque / loosen nuts etc. at full stretch or odd angles, so this is likely a bridge too far for me.

To be updated.....

Major Ledfoot

If vids or how-to-guides can be found, they usually relate to LHD cars. Which is a whole different kettle 'o' fish.

A few years back at the Tamworth National Rally, @paul0075 and Jared sorted out my LHD 780's V-belts. Paul later commented how the LHD cars are a lot easier to work on than RHD cars. (The 780, of course, was never built in RHD....) Seems the engineers designed the things for LHD first and then adapted the basic design for RHD. The power steering hoses in RHD cars are an classic example of this.

DIY power steering hose replacement will need some vehicle-offroad time. So that's the type of job I'mm happy to give to a shop, along with instructions, since the shop has a hoist and I don't.

Philia_Bear

The engine mounts on a 940 are vertical...

Drive front of car on ramps and secure

Remove top nut between mount and the alloy arms that connect to the block on driver's side

Attach engine crane to front of engine (strap on #1 exhaust runner) and lift up 50-100mm

You now have easy access to lines and the pump

itsabitsa

Philia_Bear
The engine mounts on a 940 are vertical...
Drive front of car on ramps and secure
Remove top nut between mount and the alloy arms that connect to the block on driver's side
Attach engine crane to front of engine (strap on #1 exhaust runner) and lift up 50-100mm
You now have easy access to lines and the pump

^ Nicely - thanks!

Local off road specialist took a look - noted that all the bushes are still serviceable, but looking a little tired. Which really opens a can of worms..... once you've started, where do you stop?

He did have a novel suggestion for the high pressure hose - cut the steel pipe in situ, remove it easily, fit a brake pipe union to the cut and fix leaking flexi hose, and refit.

Brake pipes work at higher pressure (+/- 2000 psi at peak) than power steering (+/- 800 psi) so I can't see why this would not work. Am I missing something?

Philia_Bear

itsabitsa
https://ozvolvo.org/discussion/comment/215652#Comment_215652
^ Nicely - thanks!
Local off road specialist took a look - noted that all the bushes are still serviceable, but looking a little tired. Which really opens a can of worms..... once you've started, where do you stop?
He did have a novel suggestion for the high pressure hose - cut the steel pipe in situ, remove it easily, fit a brake pipe union to the cut and fix leaking flexi hose, and refit.
Brake pipes work at higher pressure (+/- 2000 psi at peak) than power steering (+/- 800 psi) so I can't see why this would not work. Am I missing something?

you need to remove the lines from the car to do it properly....

in circa 2007 I pulled the lines and clipped them within 100mm of the fittings and then had AN6 fittings silver soldered on so I could go to fabricated 2000psi braided lines

Its EXXY as compared to the stock ones for little benefit.... unless your say swapping motors like I was (B6304 in place of B230ft)

itsabitsa

So car has just been returned, and is now registered. Phew!

From my brief squint underneath, Pirtek have done a good job albeit not cheap. Metal mounting bracket with rubber lining for the hoses on the front face of the subframe hasn't been refitted (but it was pretty knackered) so hoses are loose next to sump. Not ideal.

When I jack her up to attend to that I'll get some pics and update.

deNs

When I was doing mine I wasn't able to get my hands on a pressure hose to suit RHD so I got Pirtek to make one up for me as well, which ended up looking like this:

Modified with a JIC fitting and pressure tested to some ridiculous pressure amount. Quite honestly I can't remember what I paid at the time but it was somewhere between $100-200 from memory, though I think it was on the lower end. My memory fails me. The fitting was on a swivel connection so it didn't have to be perfectly aligned to what the original orientation was.

Ex850R

Knowing the big hose mobs put ridiculous prices on jobs in industry in surprised they don't cut some slack for private car peeps, I near fell over when I got a few feet of hose years ago.

Must be a cheaper option, it's just swageing a hose end after all.....

VolvoHordz

Takes a bit of effort to figure out combination of fittings, routing, any mounts etc., but these days you can make your own hoses with AN fittings and ptfe hose for probably sub $150.

I did it for my 242 as I needed a custom high pressure hose. I used this adapter on the pump end https://aeroflowperformance.com/af355-06ss-power-steer-fitt-11-16-18 and a banjo to 6an adapter on the rack end.

Ex850R

Look for an industrial supply mob.

Google the specific part as seen in your link, local places will come up.

Front up to the counter and ask them if they know a fitter mob who will be helpful.