Fiat Doblo power steering query

[tim0409]

Hi there

I purchased a new Fiat Doblo van just under two years ago and in that time the power steering has failed five times. I attempted to reject the vehicle; the dealer refused but ultimately we reached a cash settlement hours before the case was due to be called. The steering has just failed again in exactly the same way as the four previous occasions; the hydraulic line to the cooling loop at the front blows off, dumping all the fluid. The issue is not the connections - Fiat "master technicians" have reconnected the pipe four times without bothering to investigate what is causing the system to over-pressurise, despite me asking them to investigate (but that's a whole different matter...)

My question is; what other component(s) are likely to cause this? I did a bit of research and from what I understand power steering pumps have a pressure release/bypass and my initial thought was this could be the issue. It fails at irregular intervals - the first was at 1500 miles, and the longest interval has been 10,000 miles.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Tim

[GreenV8S]

Have you investigated how the hose is attached and what the line pressure is? I wonder whether the hose has simply got more pressure in it than that type of fitting can take.