1987 740 GLE Power Steering Fluid Loss

New Member here with a problem!(What else!) My 1987 740 GLE, 280K miles (I'm the original owner) came home with my son with heavy steering having developed. A look at the road/driveway and under the behicle showed that the Volvo had lost all its Power Steering fluid quickly. An empty Power Steering Reservoir confirmed where the fluid was coming from. My question is, my Independant Volvo Service is 40 miles away. Filling the reservoir and driving with the leak seems useless as the fluid will quickly leak out. I looked from the top and could not see any signs of leakage so the leak is probably coming from the bottom of the vehicle. My inclination is have the vehicle towed to the service but I don't know how dependant the steering is without fluid assist i.e. is the vehicle drivable safely? MY Independant Service Tech is on vacation until the 8th so I can't contact him and a search of this Forum did not yield any information that soecifically addresses this concern. Any thoughts or reccamendations are appreciated. thanks-Dick

Hi, With such a speedy evacuation of steering fluid from the system are you sure the leak is in the rack and not one of the pipes or the reservoir? I would have a good look under and around the rack, pump and pipes to make sure... You can drive without fluid, but the pump will suffer, particularly when you need to steer. If you can get pulled to your mechanic.. Des. . . ;)

Remove the PAS belt and you can drive the vehicle, the steering will obviously be very heavy. (I'm assuming the PAS belt doesn't drive anything else)