This is impossible to say with any degree of certainty when you do not have the entire car in front of you, but looking at your center photo, that appears to be one of the accordion boots on one of the inner tie rod ends on the rack and pinion steering gear. Before you spend money on a bottle of dye, the steering rack is real easy to check for leaking. The outer end of each of those boots is real small diameter, as in less than 3/4", and there will be a small hose clamp on them. Slide that clamp off one of the boots, then use a pick with a 90 degree bend on the end to pull that boot open just a little. If the steering gear is leaking, power steering fluid will run out of the boot when you pull it open.
Both of those boots are supposed to have just air in them. There is a metal tube between the two boots because as you turn the steering wheel, one of those boots will stretch out and the other will collapse as the steering linkage moves back and forth. The metal tube is just there to allow the air to flow back and forth as the boots change size. What that means for us is when a seal leaks on one side of the assembly, once that boot fills up with power steering fluid, it will run through the tube to the other boot and fill it too. That means we only have to check on one side for fluid.
Power steering fluid in most cars is clear, and if the rack and pinion assembly is leaking, those boots are pretty much the only things that will be wet. Oil is brown and becomes darker after being hot many times. All engine oil leaks are going to originate up higher than the steering gear, so more stuff will be wet.
Watching fluid levels drop over time can lead to a misdiagnosis if it is oil that is leaking because all engines for the past many years use some oil between oil changes. Power steering fluid should not drop over time. Even this can become confusing because if you have a mechanic change your oil, topping off all the other fluids other than brake fluid is part of the job. If the power steering fluid has been leaking slowly, your people may have been adding just a little, as necessary, but not enough to be noteworthy until now. To say that a different way, it would not be terribly surprising to find the leaking fluid is full right now. If you are lucky enough to find the power steering fluid is low, look for the highest spot you see wetness, as the leaked fluid runs down from there. If the power steering pump and hoses are dry, the rack and pinion assembly is the best suspect. It is not uncommon for them to leak. Professionally-rebuilt assemblies have become real inexpensive the last ten to fifteen years, and almost all of them address common problems GM had with their units.
You might find additional useful information from this article:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/power-steering-problems
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Saturday, June 2nd, 2018 AT 9:28 PM
