I'm going to preface this with the fact that I'm a working poor person and very low income, even though I've been relying on this car for work. I'm seeking solutions that are primarily responsible but also economical.

A few months back in the winter, I was hearing a whine from what I thought was my power steering pump. The place that had been changing my oil had been topping it off with regular power steering fluid instead of transmission fluid. At that time, there more more pressing issues with a wheel bearing and tie rod needing to be replaced. The shop told me they flushed out the power steering line, and replaced the fluid. The sound stopped.

Now here I am a few months later. The sound has returned. Where it might come and go before, now it's constant. It's definitely the power steering pump. I got in there and used a hand-soap pump to clear the reservoir as well I as I could, topped it off, and worked the pump by turning the wheels back and forth. I did this 4 times. After each attempt, there is (admittedly a little less) brown goo coating the end of the pump tube. It's like a sludge down in there.

Hose 1 appears deteriorated at the top. Also of concern is the way it seems slightly coated with gunk/fluid.


My concern is the high amount of debris inside the tank and therefore the system. The tanks are more expensive than the pumps themselves and I am considering trying to remove the tank to attempt to clean it. At this point the pump probably is messed up, however even if I were to replace the pump, the tank is probably clogged and the problem probably won't go away. However, reading on this forum and other places, it looks like the tubes are likely to be a problem, and examining my own tubes, they appear to be deteriorating, especially the one I've labeled Tube 1. They are likely to break if I can manage to remove the tank without breaking *it* (big if).

So my question is: What should I do at this point? Best course of action? Any suggestions on where to get the hoses/part number information on the hoses in the pics esp hose 1? I've seen a post elsewhere here where it looked to be expensive and complicated, but that was also in 2017, so maybe there are different options now?

Thanks in advance for your time, should you comment.

More pics below.

Hose 2

This is a photo of the solid debris inside the pump.