Power Steering Pump Leak

[dorough]

I have a 1994 2.3 Ranger that has developed a leak at the power steering pump. The picture below is the rear of the pump. The fluid leak is coming from where the large nut screws into the unit (the upper blue-plugged nut.) The nut is metal, the unit is plastic. I'm not sure if there's a crack in the unit, if the unit is weathered & weak or what. I'm thinking I could either try backing the large nut out just a bit and wrapping some teflon tape around it then screwing it back it - but I don't want to risk cracking the unit. Or I could run a bead of silicone around the base of the nut. Any other ideas?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

what probably happened someone did not back up the flare nut fitting with a wrench when they were tightening the line to it. You can try getting a new washer for the fitting you are pointing at then snugging it down and when your tightening the line to it put a wrench on it when you tighten the flare fitting so your not reefing on the pump. It is the same as fuel line fittings allways back them up to get them good and tite.

 

[dorough]

what probably happened someone did not back up the flare nut fitting with a wrench when they were tightening the line to it.

That would be my guess too had the pump been worked on recently. But the pump hasn't been touched in years and just developed this leak on its own recently.