power steering question

[92EuroDiamante]

Hey everyone,
so after a week of really productive work, I go for a test drive and my car dumps PS fluid and I lose power steering. No problem I think, I will cut out the leak and replace the pipe. Well the leak is on the tube right where it connects to the rack, right at the end so no cutting it out.

Its freezing here so I dont feel like replacing the whole line so I was thinkng about doing this, let me know if it would be a problem in a PS system. I was going to get the replacement tube, cut the last few inches off the new one, cut off the last few inches of the old one and then connect it to the existing tube with high psi tubing. The rest of my tubing has absolutely no corrosion so im thinking this is a quicker alternative to replacing everything in this weather.

I have done this with A/C lines after repairing older cars in accidents and its always worked well.

Thanks for any advice

[DocWalt]

Kind of ghetto, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

[92EuroDiamante]

Definitely ghetto haha. Thing is I would love to just throw a new rack in and then have every major component new/rebuilt on the car but the thing is I just put in coilovers and I would like to get more than 5 miles on my new alignment and balance before it had to be all undone haha.

[RL7]

I think that may be the high pressure side that sees several thousand psi. I think the hose there would almost have to be metal. If it's on the low side, no problem. Pump->rack= high, everywhere else is low I think.

[FluffyCow]

In theory, as long as you weld/solder/braze the tubing together(metal to metal, with a flaring/swaging tool like this), it should work fine.

[92EuroDiamante]

Kind of ghetto, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

My local Mitsu dealer is actually able to get me the correct one for very cheap in a reasonable amount of time (didnt expect that!) so I am leaning toward replacing the line.
Docwalt, I know you had a write up about removing the rack, do you remember how much you have to pull off to get to the line? Trying to determine if its better to replace the whole thing or permanently reconnect the last few inches of the new unit to the old one.

[DocWalt]

Which line are you replacing?

[92EuroDiamante]

Facing the car head on (looking at the headlights) it is the one that goes to the port farthest right I believe. Is one harder than the other, let me know, I will get a chance to confirm which one tonight or tomorrow. Thank you so much for the advice and help

[DocWalt]

From what I remember, one of those two lines goes almost directly into a rubber line and would be somewhat easier to replace. The other line was a hardline for a much longer distance, I think. It's been two years, so I'm not 100% sure. I'm pretty sure the line going to the right is the low pressure line, and feeds into a rubber line to move up along the frame towards the P/S fluid reservoir. I don't have a service manual handy at work anymore, so I can't check to be certain.

[92EuroDiamante]

Fairly certain it is the reservoir line now that I think about it because if I fill the reservoir it will begin to leak before I turn the car on and also it drips not sprays. If it is indeed at 1k+ psi Im gonna guess it would spray like crazy with a leak that size. I know radiators do!

Thank you for the help, just trying to gauge on weather its gonna be a simple job or a removing a dozen other things to do a simple job kind of thing, before I go and freeze!