I started noticing fluid build up underneath the front center of my 03 coupe recently. I'm at 123k miles.

Based on the smell and taking my mechanic's word for it, I think it's gotta be the power steering fluid. He suggested replacing the whole power steering rack for like $1k+, which I immediately declined.

The weird thing is, the power steering fluid reservoir seems to be diminishing extremely slowly. Over the past few weeks, I've seen it go down maybe a couple millimeters when both cold and hot (it's hovering just under the min right now for each before or after driving my car). It looks like there is more leaking than that though based on the spot underneath the car after I drive and park somewhere for a bit.

So my question is, is there any way it could be leaking but the reservoir isn't replenishing it? That would worry me, because then I probably would need to replace it or take it to someone who could figure out what exactly is leaking and just replace one or two hoses, etc. Or is it probably just a case of the little spot on the ground under the car looking like more fluid than it actually is? Because at this rate, I could probably get away with adding a little bit of fluid now and again for a couple bucks vs. spending over a grand. Hell, I'm already throwing motor oil in it somewhat regularly since it started noticeably burning it about 30k miles ago lol. Still runs like a champ though, so I'm glad for that!

 

If the hoses are wet looking, the best way is to spray them down with brake cleaner to get them dry. Then drive around for a bit and see if you can spot where it's leaking from. It's pretty common for hoses to degrade on cars over 10 years old. Sometimes it can be fixed by just re-positioning the clamps. Basically you should try to rule out a leaky hose before replacing the whole rack.