Power Steering rack/hydraulic fluid line

[95cabrio]

Great! Another new problem and something to distract me from January boredom.

I have noticed a small and tiny leak appearing from one of the hoses in the hydraulic system that travels from the top front of the left cylinder head down over the top of the oil filter and back up into the reservoir.

The pipe that carries the fluid is metal and is covered by a thick black foam-type casing.

The leak has been happening for a while as it has slowly eaten away at the casing.

The fluid protruding out of the leak is a very pale brown/red and it has a light baby oil type consistency.

The fluid inside of the hydraulic reservoir is as black as your shoes.

Has anyone else come across this problem before, I would like to know what I am looking at here

2.6 ABC B4

[95cabrio]

The pipe is the lowest of the two pipes running underneath the coolant pipe and when the car is at a slight incline it is enough to have the odd drip onto the exhaust

[scotty33]

Sorry, I'm not sure which of the 3 pipes it is, that you describe. 2 are return lines from the power steering rack and from the brake pressure accumulator, the third is a suction line which supplies the oil to the tandem pump. None has a significant amount of pressure in at any time, so no problem to work on that part of the system yourself.
The condition of the oil is I think a concern, purely because the hydraulic components are so expensive when they go wrong. I would change the oil, if/when you repair the leak. Audi oil spec G00 2000 has now been superceded to G004000 I think. GSF etc sell Febi oil, not sure which spec?

Some related info: http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/troubl...sp.html#hydoil

[95cabrio]

thanks for this scotty33 massive help as always with diagrams i didnt think that the power steering fluid should be black. something must be leaking in somewhere or causing it to get contaminated!

might be best to flush and refill ASAP and inspect the leak (timing belt cover needs removing etc) i am not losing any fluids so i am not exactly panicking at all. will keep you updated.