so i am pretty sure its a power steering leak, i cant tell if it is coming from the steering gear box, which is soaked at the bottom of the box, or if it is a power steering pump. The [I]reservoir has been losing fluid, but it has been excessive the past couple of day. take a look and see if u have any ideas
The top 2 pics are the bottom of the steering gear box and the last picture is of the steering linkage entering the box

 

I have a leak in the same location, I think mine is coming from a PS line.

 

you might pressure wash the area first.the fan will blow fluid all over everything.then start at the components highest up and work your way down.

 

Mine was leaking from the seal around the steering wheel shaft - got the whole gearbox wet like yours.

 

Wash it clean and look for fresh fluid tracks. The crimps on the pressure hose on top of the steering box are a common area for leaks.

 

More than likely the input shaft seal. Wash it off, and wipe it down. Start it, and have someone else turn the wheel back, and forth while you look for it.

 

it appears to be the where the linkage and the gear box meet. in this case what needs to be replaced? the whole steering gearbox? the seal? the linkage?

 

likely the seal near the intermediate shaft. easy enough to pop in new seals if the gearbox itself is ok.

You are using auto-trans fluid and not power-steering fluid yes?

 

i have botched the atf, i am using power steering fluid... what is the reason for using the atf fluid?

 

If you clean the area and cover with baby powder or spay on foot powder the leak will show up.This is the method we used before the advent of
UV die kits,which by the way are the greatest leak detectors ever made.You only have to replace the wrong part once before it pays for itself.

 

It's thicker, seen several leaks dissapear when swapped over to ATF.

Pretty sure it's what they originally came filled with too.

 

that would make sense, i just topped it off with some power steering fluid... i will start with flushing the system before i start buying expensive parts

 

what is the best way to go about flushing the power steering?

 

*shrug* pull the lines at the gearbox to drain the majority of it, compressed air will flush the remaining out (albiet messily).

 

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