Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Power Steering Reservoir Cap Leakage

I went to a BMW driving school last year at Nelson Ledges Race Course. Had a lot of fun beating up on a lot of BMW's who couldn't believe how fast a '99 Contour SE can go. Anyway I had a problem with the power steering fluid splashing out of the reservoir. I could see the fluid on the outside of the reservoir and running down the engine compartment. About a month later the alternator failed and the mechanic said that there was some kind of oil all over the alternator. At the time I thought the spillage was because there is no gasket on the cap. Now I look and I see that there is an O-ring that is supposed to seal the cap and prevent fluid from splashing out when you go through corners. I took the cap off and inspected the o-ring and everything looks good. When I put the cap on I can feel the o-ring being pushed into the neck of the reservoir. From what I can see this design should prevent power steering fluid from escaping the reservoir. I guess if I had to I could cut a gasket to go under the cap for insurance. Has anyone ever had this problem before?

I had a similar issue, thought not to the extreme of yours. Replacing all of the PS fluid helped considerably. If I had to guess, I would say that the anti-foaming agents in the fluid had worn out allowing the fluid to get foamy, which would make it take up more space (escape).

Mine still does it, but even after two months of not washing the engine compartment, the resivour is still white. Its just barely starting to attract dirt. Im sure the stacked plate cooler that was installed at the same time doesnt hurt much either.

Pretty common during track events and auto-x. I've heard it was boiling fluid that pushes out. Check the thread in the aesthetics forum on cleaning the engine bay for tips to remove the oily residues. I use Simple Green FWIW.

On my own car, it was more prone to throwing power steering fluid when the level was even very slightly over full and much less of a problem when slightly under the max line.

I also agree that fresh fluid is less likely to be thrown off.

I also agree that in really stiff competitive driving such as auto X that even under the best of conditions you will still throw some.

But it does lessen it if the fluid is in good condition and is not overfilled.