1999 4 cylinder power steering woes

[Grinch2171]

I have a 1999 Ranger. I am the second owner and have had it since 2001. So far it has been a great truck and probably still has a lot of life in it. Unfortunately I have been a bad owner and have let maintenance slip. But I have an issue I must tend to.

About 3 years ago it started leaking power steering fluid. A friend of mine looked at it who is way more mechanically inclined than I am said I should replace the rack and pinion since that is where it is leaking from. I did and things were cool for a while. The leaking started up again and it has been leaking for some time now. I figured the power steering pump was going bad so I replaced that this past weekend. Not a fun job at all. While I was doing this I noticed that the rubber boot things on the rack and pinion are split on both sides and the power steering is still leaking. The leak is actually much worse which leads me to believe that either the new pump is functioning better than the old one causing the leak to be more pronounced or I screwed something up. I am at a loss on what to do. Obviously the rack and pinion needs to be replaced due to the cracked boots. I have yet to locate the exact position of the leak I intend on doing that tonight.

From what I have read, the boots cracking is caused by an internal leak due to fluid getting inside the boots and the pressure build up will cause them to split. This concerns me because the rack and pinion is only 3 years old. So obviously there is something else wrong. Could it possibly be the pressure hose or pressure switch going bad.

Any advice will be very welcome. I prefer to do the maintenance myself.

Thanks.

[jr78]

If it is leaking fluid from the boots on the Rack and Pinion than you need to replace the Rack and Pinion. To me it sound like a poor rebuild on the rack, the pump and hoses won't cause the rack to leak.