Over the weekend I found a rather large leak under my RL. I think there might be two oil leaks that coincidentally happened at the same time. One is definitely from the PS feed line. The oil on the engine cover sort of gave it away. I let the engine warm up for a few minutes and found it dripping from a bubble in the high pressure hose.





The OEM feed line is quite a bit more than I'd like to spend on this repair at nearly $600.



Has anyone has any luck with an aftermarket replacement? I see them on Rock Auto for $60 to $90, and then NAPA and AutoZone have them listed in the $250 to $290 range. Although they look very similar to the Edelmann branded hose on RA that's 1/3 the cost.

I was planning to replace the timing belt, tensioner, water pump and passenger side motor mount (if I can find one) this winter and then hopefully get another couple of years out of the car. It's at 277k miles now. I don't need to keep the RL around anymore, but it's nice to have for bad weather or as a second vehicle that my wife can drive.

 

i wouldn't hesitate with getting a Rockauto replacement.

 

That's good to hear. If one of the cheaper options will hold up for a couple of years, that would work just fine for me.

It doesn't look like it's too terribly difficult to replace, although I haven't crawled completely under the car yet to see how much access there is to the flare fitting on the rack side.

 

I'd just ensure that the hydraulic oil hasn't found its way onto the timing belt already - don't want it failing a week before you'd got around to changing it...

 

That's a good point. I'll let the car sit until I can replace all of it. It might have to wait until after the holidays when I'll have more free time.

 

That is because they are the same part, at least in the Autozone Duralast below sharing the same 92515 part # as the RA Edelmann hose.
I guess Autozone justifies it by thinking someone has to pay for the local 'down the street' access of the stored part
As thoiboi suggests, RA is the first 'go-to' and the part is currently on a wholesale closeout for additional savings!
For some reason RA does not carry side mount 50820-SJA-305.

 

I ended up ordering the cheap Edelmann hose, a set of NGK platinum plugs and the Aisin timing belt and water pump kit. So far I've only seen a right side engine mount from Honda, or there's an unbranded one on ebay. I've searched the forums a bit and it seems like the consensus is that we should stick to the OEM mounts for this car.

I'm probably due to replace all of the motor mounts with the mileage that it's at. I haven't looked yet, but bad mounts could explain some of the transmission weirdness that's surfaced over the past year.

 

Replacing this line isn't fun. Would not recommend. I have even more respect now for the guys that build and repair these V6 motors. The limited access makes everything so much more difficult.

There's a youtube video where a guy replaces the feed line on a 2G RL, but he didn't show how he actually removed it or installed the new one. My plan was to get the old one out without destroying it so that I could be certain that the replacement was able to be installed without bending the hard line. I'm a little worried that if I bend the line, then the flare fitting won't line up correctly and I might end up with stripped threads and/or a leak. I tried to snake it out with the rear motor mount still in place, but the "U" shaped section right before the flare fitting got hung up between the subframe and the sway bar. It was hung up so well that removing the rear motor mount didn't make any difference and I ended up just cutting it.



I found that removing the rear motor mount is a lot easier when the front mount is removed first. Removing the front mount requires removal of the fans. The hardest part was just getting all of the wire connectors unplugged. There's one near the bottom of each fan that's difficult to access. Plus the little plastic clips that hold the male and female connectors together are full of dirt and don't want to let go. If I were to do it again, I'd probably remove the lower splash shield and try to access them from the bottom.



Getting the engines weight off of the front mount is fairly easy. I just put my car jack on the oil pan and lifted it ~1/2". The motor mount was completely shot. I pulled it out from the engine bay and while turning to place it on the tool cart, I must have been holding it sideways. The top of the mount fell off and a black oily liquid spilled all over the floor.



To remove the rear mount, I found an engine hanger on the firewall side of the transmission that I could chain up to my engine hoist. I just tilted the engine forward slightly and the old mount was removed without too much effort.



I think I found the second oil leak, which appears to be coming from the oil adapter plate. I have new o-rings on the way. Next up is the timing belt, valve lash adjustment, new motor mounts and then all new fluids.

 

Yeah, there's a reason I regularly spray the engine with interior dressing & jet-wash it!

Not only does it look showroom, I believe it helps de-brittle connectors & keeps corrosion minimal.

Kudos for getting this far. Good luck with threading-in that new PAS pipe...

 

That's a smart move. The RL has been so reliable all these years, I never gave the car much thought or put in any extra effort in maintaining it. Although it's started to catch up with me now.

The new feed line went in without any drama. Get used to laying across the intake plenum on your chest. The aftermarket flare nut fitting uses a 9/16" wrench instead of the usual 14 mm. I didn't have any SAE flare nut wrenches, but my old school hot rodding neighbor had a set that I was able to barrow.



The front and rear motor mounts have been replaced. The passenger side mount was completely broken like the front mount, and I believe the transmission mount is also broken just judging by how much movement can be see when jacking up the engine. The timing belt is ready to be pulled off. I think my oil leak is actually coming from the oil pump now that I've dug into it a bit further. Now that I'm this far into it, I'll remove the pan and oil pump, check the clearances and reseal everything.



I went to pull the spark plugs out so that the engine would be a little easier to turn over and found that I have the dreaded deteriorating valve cover problem.





I guess we'll add new valve covers to the growing parts list. That one hurts a bit at ~$265 a pop.

This will be the last update since the power steering line has been replaced and this is going off topic while snowballing into a much bigger project.

 

Oh Gawd...I guess you've started now so you might as well finish.

I suppose if you like the car enough it is worth doing.