Transmission and Power Steering Problems. Please Help!

[techy101]

So I've been contemplating parting the car out, but after a couple of days to cool down, I'm looking for some help on fixing these problems.

Problem Number 1:
-Firstly, This one is 100% my fault. Now with that out of the way... I was replacing the internal transmission filter in the SVX the other day. Everything seemed to be going well. I was putting the new gasket in and re-attaching the oil pan to the car. I tightened everything down, trying to be gentle but firm. I've not purchased a torque wrench that can reliably measure 8-10lbs, but it's now at the top of the list.
Anyway. I put the car in the driveway waiting for the new PS pump to get here. The next day there was a very large puddle under the car. It was most defiantly leaking. I put the car back up on jack stands and went to re-torque any loose bolts. Well........ I was under there and I found two that with just a tad bit of extra pressure started spinning freely. So I stripped those out. One bolt head sheared off when I was trying to tighten it.

So, I still have the leak, with two stripped bolt holes, one sheared bolt, and the possibility that I've damaged an unknown number of other bolts in the process.

Someone on here has to have done something like this, any ideas on the cheapest way to fix this? Between both problems I would have a very very hard time putting to much money (over $300) into the car at this point.




That was the first problem. Problem number 2:

The other week I was driving along an all of a sudden there were huge plumes of blue smoke coming from behind the car. Bad enough that it was hard to see the car behind me. I thought the worst, but the car was still running fine and I was pretty close to home. I decided to try and nurse the car home. After a minute or so the cabin started to fill up with blue smoke, and it was apparent that the problem wasn't inside the motor.

As I was pulling off the highway I noticed that power steering seemed to be gone. I got off the highway and popped the hood. The PS/Alt belt was almost shredded. Only two "ribs" were still attached and the rest was strewn around the engine bay. I opted to have the car towed the rest of the way home since I have towing insurance.

I traced the problem to a pretty major leak in one hose coming off of the steering rack directly above the exhaust pipe (thus the smoke). It appears that the pump ran dry and got damaged because it was making a horrible noise as well as destroying the belt. The offending hose is #11 on this diagram (which btw, has got to be one of the hardest places to get to on the whole damn car.)



I replaced the hose and the PS pump. I put fluid back in the system and started it up. Everything seemed fine for about a minute, when I looked and the PS Reservoir cap was spewing fluid all over the place. It looked a lot like one of those volcanoes you make with baking soda and vinegar. Then almost immediately it started making a terrible grinding/screeching noise.

That brings us to right now. I've got a large paperweight on jack stands in my garage with a big puddle of fluid underneath, and no real idea how to fix it. I really don't want to scrap the car over something small, but I also don't have much money to put into it right now, as I'm looking at going back to college for a career change.

So, humbly I ask for as much help as possible.

-Matthew