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jamieZ
12-28-2009, 08:39 AM
Merry Christmas and all that. I was looking at my stored Donzi yesterday and noticed power steering fulid underneath the engine. It appears to be leaking from a small metal cylinder on the underneath side of the engine.One hose goes to this cylinder and the other goes back to the steering arm from the power steering pump. On the other end of this cylinder is a bigger rubber hose which is connected to the fresh water washout. There is another small hose that runs out of the side of the cylinder and goes back to the same steering arm. I don't know what this "cylinder" has to do with the power steering system? and why is it connected to the fresh water washout system.Can anyone help me? All hose clamps are tight. Jamie

BUIZILLA
12-28-2009, 08:41 AM
is this an Alpha drive?

MOP
12-28-2009, 09:51 AM
Sounds the oil cooler, if you are in a area that gets freezing temps and did not drain it froze.

Phil

Conquistador_del_mar
12-28-2009, 10:34 AM
Sounds the oil cooler, if you are in a area that gets freezing temps and did not drain it froze.

Phil

Jamie,
What Phil said. It is your power steering fluid cooler which can be mounted vertically, horizontally, or somewhere in between. It needs to be drained or filled with antifreeze or it will break with the frozen water inside. Offhand, it sounds like this is what happenned to yours which means you will be needing a new one. Bill

jamieZ
01-08-2010, 08:09 AM
I dodged a bullet. it was the rubber hose going into the oil cooler. There was a crack in the bottom of it. I just cut off about a inch and re-attached. No more leak. I never heard of power steering coolers before. I didn't realize the PS fulid would get that hot. How do they solve this problem on a automobile? I don't think there is a "cooler" on a car. Jamie

Dr. David Fleming
01-08-2010, 05:39 PM
Jamie,

Glad you found your leak and it was inexpensive. Regarding automotive ps coolers. Yes some cars have them. Police vehicles in particular do as they run their engines at high output levels. Generally these coolers are air coolers and look like small radiators in the ps lines. Some high performance engine options will also have them. Most boats run at max power most of the time and cars do not. The ps goes along for the ride. Check out the Merc racing engines and the new 502 merc coming out this year as well as the 496HO. They have a large reservoir with additional fluid this is a significat change from the old GM Saginaw ps pumps most of us are using on Mercruiser. PS fluid can make a big difference also as some applications require special fluid not the old standby of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) use what the spec. manual requires.

jamieZ
02-24-2010, 07:22 AM
Thanks for the info. Jamie

thehow33
02-24-2010, 08:53 AM
I dodged a bullet. it was the rubber hose going into the oil cooler. There was a crack in the bottom of it. I just cut off about a inch and re-attached. No more leak. I never heard of power steering coolers before. I didn't realize the PS fulid would get that hot. How do they solve this problem on a automobile? I don't think there is a "cooler" on a car. Jamie

Its always nice when it ends up being a quick fix, not to mention cheap.