For the power steering gurus

[ggrunwald@domain.elided]

My power steering has always worked perfectly and while loosing a little
fluid, it has only needed topping up once every six to eight months which I
have not worried about.  The background is laid and now the tale follows.

Last weekend I decided to re-shim the inner ball joint which connects the
tie rod to the steering rack to solve a long standing problem of excessive
front end play.  I removed the passenger side rack boot and there was a
little bit of power steering fluid inside but I thought nothing of this as
I assumed it was from the very slow leak as mentioned preceding.  All then
went well and I removed significant front end play by using new shims.
When  it came to tightening the nut connecting the inner ball joint to the
rack I decided to follow the ROM suggestion of using the nut on the other
side of the rack to take the strain so as not to damage the rack.

When I removed the drivers side rack boot a gush of power steering fluid
poured out.  Checking found the reservoir empty.  With no choice but to
finish the job I proceeded, refilled the reservoir and with heart in mouth
and the dread of a total rack rebuild I started the engine and took it for
a drive.  To my surprise it has not used any fluid even though I have
travelled some kilometres.  Now the questions,

During the ball joint operation I manually pushed the wheels from side to
side a fair bit to gain better access and test ball joint play.  Can moving
the rack without  the engine running cause the fluid to leak into the rack
boot?

Is there any other explanation why the fluid leaked out but seems OK now?

How hard is it to replace the steering rack seals if necessary?

Has anyone else had this experience?

This has me perplexed and I look forward to any answers.

Guy Grunwald