Any ideas what has caused this Serious oil leak coming from top of Steering Box

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Joined
Jul 31, 2024
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My Car
Supercharged Mach1
Hi all. I am after some expert advise on this problem please. My Mustang would not start due to an inferior Holley Carb service kit being fitted that was not the genuine article, and the internal seals have given up, and fuel just leaks into the engine and floods it. I have removed the carbs and will install the proper genuine Holley repair kits.
Anyway, I had to move the Mustang out of the garage onto the drive way and rotate it 180 degrees around and then put push back into the garage. This involved turning the steering wheel with no engine running, so no pump was assisting the steering box with pressurised fluid. It took me about 4 hours push and shunting the car on the drive way in order to get it to face the right way and finally back in the garage.
I have now noticed a nasty oil leak coming from the top of the steering box where the steering wheel shaft enters.

Could this be the result of rotating the steering wheel around from full lock to full lock without the engine running and not being power assisted? The steering wheel was rotated back and forth about 50 times I recon during the 4 hours.
I have already replaced the 2 oil seals at the top of this pump because there was oil leaking from it during the time the car was being renovated, again there was no engine in it at that time, and this pump started to leak then.
Can damage be done to the steering box oil seals by my actions, or is there actually an internal fault in the steering box which is allowing the oil to get through the two top seals?
Here's a photo of the steering box I have and the pitman shaft is just out of view.
Thanks guys.
 

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Sorry This paragraph should have read.
I have already replaced the 2 oil seals at the top of this STEERING BOX because there was oil leaking from it during the time the car was being renovated, again there was no engine in it at that time, and this STEERING BOX started to leak then.
 
Could this be the result of rotating the steering wheel around from full lock to full lock without the engine running and not being power assisted? The steering wheel was rotated back and forth about 50 times I recon during the 4 hours.

I dont believe that alone would cause a leak to occur. I have driven my cars for tens of thousands of miles with the power steering belt removed.
 
I'm a bit confused. Are you talking about the inlet and outlet pipe seats being loose, or are you talking about the input shaft seal by the rag joint? You say two seals, I'm confused.

If it's the top input shaft seal, you'll need to pull the box to fix it properly. I doubt turning the s wheel would be the main cause, it's probably been on the outs for some time. Replacing that seal shouldn't be too hard once the box is on the bench. There is a dirt seal first with the oil seal behind it. It can be pulled with a small pick and screw driver or similar. Make sure the shaft is clean before replacing the oil/dirt seals. Personally I've not actually done it that way as the boxes I have rebuilt were totally apart, so the input seals were installed into the adjuster nut before assembly.
I don't have a pic of that exact part, but this one shows a part of the dirt seal.
 

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