driving a car with power steering disconnected

[jase12]

my brother was driving down to our parents place this weekend, about 200km/120miles away. half way his steering started making weird sounds. he pulls over, has a look and sees that there is a big leak in one of the pipes for his power steering fluid. we went and picked him up and left the car at a service station. to get the car back to his house, could we disconnect the power steering cable and drive the car sans power steering? or is it not this simple?

 

[nicad2000]

Generally yes, provided the power steering drive belt doesn't connect to anything else. I did this once on a ~150 mile drive with no ill effects.

 

[ratboycom]

well, if its leaking I would say no. If the rack were to puke enough fluid on a trip like that and go dry you would be looking at replacing the PS rack, not a cheap fix.

 

[Cavalier]

Better off posting on the enthusiast forum of whatever car it is, will be an easy answer for them

 

[rnoldh]

You can generally do that for brief period.

But if you go too long you can ruin your rack and pinion assembly.

I've done it.

 

[binclintonusa]

I really hope you like this new challenge! Best of luck, everyone!

pret auto

 

[Ludeykrus]

Originally Posted by nicad2000

Generally yes, provided the power steering drive belt doesn't connect to anything else. I did this once on a ~150 mile drive with no ill effects.

Originally Posted by ratboycom

well, if its leaking I would say no. If the rack were to puke enough fluid on a trip like that and go dry you would be looking at replacing the PS rack, not a cheap fix.
A little late, but spamboy above me brought it back. Figured I'd toss a little advice out. Rayboycom would be correct if the rack was leaking, but the OP said a hose was leaking. The main concern with a power steering fluid leak is that the power steering pump will run dry and seize. With the belt pulled off and the pump not running, one should not lose enough fluid in a small leak to destroy anything else. Depends on the car, though. YMMV. BTW, I disabled the power steering on my Honda by just bypassing the power steering pump and rerouting the lines in a loop with each other to seal them.