power steering thread sealant

[JimT]

hey all

replaced my power steering pump last year. All was good for a while. After a few months though I started to notice a little fluid weeping out from the pipe threads. Looks like the pipe thread sealant I used didn't hold up. Don't remember what brand it was off the top of my head but it said it was good for hydraulic/high pressure applications.

Over the past few months it's slowly gotten worse to the point that I'm starting to see the slightest drop in fluid level. Still nearly full, but it's about time to redo the fittings. Any recommendations for a specific product/brand to use this time around?

[Volvo8873]

I use this stuff…

https://www.amazon.com/Harvey-017065-Lin...B000FKBXCE

And

https://www.amazon.com/Rectorseal-25790-...C93&sr=8-2

[JimT]

So this was the stuff I used, Gasoila, It was the only thing I found at the local auto parts store at the time. supposed to be good from -100F to 600F and up to 10,000 psi liquid. Seemed to work at first, but slowly failed over time. Says it doesn't need to cure before pressurization, but some reviews on Amazon seem to disagree, so maybe that was the problem? The threads had been coated with a hardened white-ish sealant when I disassembled it, so maybe the non-hardening sealants are not optimal for this application? IDK

[Rawze]

For the power steering fittings, I get the best luck by just using Permatex red.

I do not pack the male threads, because a lot of the sealant will simply get pushed out of the joint .. so I pack the female threads tightly with the sealant instead, but not in excessive amounts. This way, it cannot get pushed away. Someone just has to be careful though not to over-do it, to prevent some of it to ending up running around in the system.