By opening the reservoir, he can verify that he is only leaking engine oil. If he had low power steering fluid, he could assume he has a power steering leak also.

The sentence was a response to his reply.

 

Thank you for correcting my misunderstanding.

 

Actually I should apologize for writing such an unclear sentence.

 

the level for the power steering is just as full as it has been for the 3 months that i have driven the car. i have gone through about 7 quarts of oil in this time but have driven almost 5000 miles.

 

Common areas of leakage are valve covers, tensioner and oil cooler. When I bought my B5 I had to replace the gaskets in all those areas.

 

i rebuilt the whole motor before i started driving the car... the pervious owner got the timing belt replaced and the tensioner failed causing a hole in the piston. all in all i replaced all of the gaskets but obviously it is leaking from somewhere. i will check all of those places when i am there next.

 

One area that sometimes gets overlooked is the valley pan gasket between the cylinder heads, which can cause a leak down the back of the engine onto the gearbox or starter motor.

 

Oh that's right; that and the rear main seal, but being that you rebuilt the entire motor, I want to say I doubt it but you never know till you start digging under that hood.

 

its been a while. i have been busy with things. now the power steering works great after its beeen sitting for a day, after 10 or 12 blocks it starts to get worse like its been. and the pump is wining like there is a lack of fluid although the tank is full.

 

When the system warms up, air is being drawn in on the suction side due to a loose fitting.