Power Steering Cooler Leaking
 

1993 SE. P/S cooler started to leak. Does not appear that there is a direct replacement available. Ordered a universal one from Rock Auto and it is WAY bigger than the one that is on there. Anyone had to replace theirs and what did you do? Thanks

Sounds like you got a typical oil cooler.

Grab some hose and run it up to the front of your radiator and stick it there. Of course your going to have to add some more p/s fluid after adding all that extra line.

It was listed as a P/S cooler (Hayden #1009) and measures 3/4 x 2 x 9 which is bigger than the old stock unit but small than a regular cooler. Wonder if a radiator shop could repair it?

yes, just bypass it with hose or line. make sure you buy oil cooler/power steering hose, not fuel hose. you wont have any problems. be sure to use good hose clamps

Bypass it? It's there for a reason. If your good with zip ties, you can pretty much mount it anywhere you see fit.

On my '94, I got a 6' piece of copper tubing, just the size for a snug fit in the existing cooler lines, then bent the tubing into a long U shape, double-clamped the PS hose onto the copper line, and zip tied it under the car towards the rear, using the fuel or brake lines for suspension. Last time I had a problem with it was when my daughter ran the car off the road into a soft snowy shoulder last Fall, and the zip ties broke when the tow truck pulled it out. New zip ties, no worries! The longer length makes up for 'no fins' and still does some cooling. I've driven it like that for several years now.

I love that fix, if you weren't from NJ I would say that was a farm boy haywire fix that I would have done while working on a farm where downtime was a bigger sin than getting caught in the hay with the farmers daughter. Seriously though, only car I had with a PS cooler was a 91 deVille and it had so few fins on the couple of tubing loops I thought it was a joke. It was a great car tho, and that 4.9L Caddy engine a good one, way better than the Northstar.

2004 Bonne SLE
1971 Chevelle SS