I don't believe it!!
 

After seeing Andy's misfortune with his D3 I thanked my lucky stars because I'd considered buying it but he beat me to it. Sorry to hear of your woes Andy, hope you get sorted with something soon

So, I go out tonight in mine, shortish journey of a few miles to collect something from a mate and lo and behold, it drops the steering fluid all over the road. Luckily I was easing off for a roundabout and realised the steering had suddenly gone very heavy (I'd gone round a roundabout a mile before and felt nothing wrong) so was able to negotiate the turn with a bit of effort.

I've had a look under and can see the fluid escaping the under tray at various points but it mostly seems to originate from the front near side area behind the lower grille. I got it home and will have a look in daylight. I take it the steering fluid reservoir is under a cover somewhere as I could only see the brake fluid cap and washer fluid cap tonight by torchlight?

I'll update when I know more but it's been a bad day for D3's and particularly their steering

If you are lucky hopefully just a hose to / from the header tank has popped off / leaking, but cars never seem to throw the easy fixes !! Obviously don't drive it without fluid as this helps to lubricate and cool the hydraulic pump impeller.

I drove it the few miles home as there's no way I'm leaving it on a dual carriageway overnight. I'll take the consequences of that decision, if there are any.

Hopefully an easy fix, but as you say, it's rarely that simple

sorry to hear Ron, and hope its an easy repair... on a slightly lighter note, you and Andy need to do a bit more due diligence on the seller next time you buy a car;)

Wouldn't worry then, the pump will be fine.

The pump is at the lowest point, so unless its blown a leak next to it, there will be some fluid left in the system there. They make a god awful noise when they are running dry, so if you didnt hear that, dont worry. Its not a noise you can miss.

Sorry to hear that Ron,

If your steering went hard and there's oil leaked out them you would have definitely run the power steering pump dry, maybe ok but too early to tell.

The pump and tank are under the passenger side air filter box. It will need to be removed to get access.

Thanks fellas, I heard no noise at all so fingers crossed the pump is okay. I'll take a look in daylight and see if the fault is an obvious one. If it isn't I'll resign myself to having it collected as I don't want to risk further damage.

I can vouch for that.

I ran mine for a couple of weeks, keeping it topped up with PAS fluid, cost me a small fortune.

With mine, something went in the rack itself, starts leaking the fluid, it can leak pretty slowly but will gush out if you apply full lock

Not good albeit I do remember reading about the feed bhse from the reservoir being vulnerable to leaks, hopefully it'll be straightforward as that.