Manky Monkey Motors

At the start of the week while driving out to see lunatic at his workshop, the steering started to make some odd noises. Sounded like a tyre was rubbing on something. By the time I got back it was obvious things were very amiss.

 Didn't take much deduction to establish that i had a more than a slight leak of ATF. It was dripping all over the place.
Thoughts of expensive repair costs ran through my mind. Would it be the pump or steering rack seals?

Turned out my worst fears were unfounded. It was a 'low pressure' hose leaking where it connected to a steel pipe.
Quite why anyone would design it so this joint is only 2" away from the exhaust manifold and so subject to some severe heat is any ones guess.

A new length of hose and a pair of decent T bolt hose clamps and all is good again.
Pic of hose.

Is that the MX5 Dave?

Yup.
 If something goes wrong the first thought is, will it be worth fixing. It was touch and go whether it was worth it, when I needed a new exhaust and cat, for the MOT. I managed to find a cheap system. If it were genuine Mazda items, the cat alone would have been too expensive.

I have a leak from the power steering pump in my old red estate car, which we only keep for running to the dump etc, and in fact have currently lent to a friend whose car let him down.  I know when the fluid needs topping up because it 'groans' !  Been doing it for a few years now, just not worth fixing when we hardly use it!