Found the steering leak culprit , had to carry out temp pipe fix until new one arrives. Back on da road .... till the next time

So chaps ... Weather was crap this morning so unable to graft , bus ride home and thought I'd get straight on and investigate further to find out what's up. Cleaned everything with degreaser and dried everything off as best I could , still paying attention around the box and the pipework in...

Thanks again Pal

Ah OK, Is there more pressure built up when driving when comparing to standing on the drive on tickover , I say this as I'm thinking on blasting everything with carb cleaner , filling the reserviour and try to recreate whats happening/ what pipe or seal is the culprit , once repaired is...

The ole girl sprung a leak from the steering box , spent an hour and a bottle of fairy liquid washing the drive , Mrs moremuckmush donated a washing up dish for a catchment tray . Can't complain too much I've had a good few weeks of trouble free .... ish driving until now

Following removal of the unions , would ptfe tape ( plumbers tape) be beneficial wrapped around the threads prior to refitting

Unions ... must remember that terminology.... nuts ffs how bladdy dare I

Thanks for confirming Pal

Yep will get her in the garage tomorrow night and have a thorough inspection , can these pipes have been overtightened and gone past the point of holding the seal tight, thinking now that the cold snap we just had has accelerated the issue , got to be obvious to drain the tank surely

Yep , Nuts are tight but there is the slightest movement where the pipe enters the nut but assume the end of said pipes are convex so they give a good seal inside, I'm comparing these connections a bit like radiator valves ( I am in the construction industry after all )

Just nipped out and tried to get a decent pick, reserviour is totally drained now, I've dried up the area , hence not much fluid showing ,

coke can size but double the capacity , brown in colour , possibly two parts fitted together bit like how they make expansion tanks , are the two pipes to the reserviour under pressure, these are rubber pipes about 25mm dia with the smaller pipes joined to them.

No not topped it up , even with the initial leaking it was still within the dipstick marks but after a 2nd run I'd imagine it's low, steering started to become heavy and notchy

Thanks Pal

I will get her into the garage under the light tomorrow night and inspect further, will update following, without doubt I realise this could be anything and unrelated to the steering noises

Yep relatively clean say pinky colour , just the noise issue and fluid in the area suggested steering box.

Where you can see the 1 pipe in the 3rd pick , just to confirm there are 2 others into those other apertures. Initial research suggests fairly expensive to renew so automatically thinking to replace seals if that's doable at home with a medium talented spanners. , I'm thinking it's one of these...

I think this is the type of box I have , 3 pipes and a bleed nipple to that top part

Sorry , maybe I'm providing the wrong feedback , is it the steering box ? , directly off the steering column driver's side of the engine bay sitting below the fluid reservoir

Thanks for the feedback, no there was still plenty fluid in reservoir, definately 3 pipes going in at the top, 2 identical size nuts on the pipes and 1 larger nut , all close together in triangular formation