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The trouble-prone Porsche that “Fast & Furious” star Paul Walker was riding in when he died in a crash suffered a mechanical failure that was likely caused by a power steering fluid leak, a new report said Monday.
Sources connected to Always Evolving – the auto shop co-owned by Walker and Porsche driver Roger Rodas — told the celebrity Web site TMZ that they saw “evidence of a fluid burst and subsequent fluid trail before the skid marks at the accident scene.”
The sources said that the lack of skid marks until just before the point of impact suggests the driver didn’t have control of the speeding car’s steering.
Walker was just tagging along with a pal for a test-drive in a trouble-prone Porsche when they crashed and died, a new report said.
The 40-year-old actor had shown up at Always Evolving — a high-end car shop run by Walker’s buddy, former race-car driver Roger Rodas, 38 — for a fund-raiser for typhoon victims in the Philippines, according to TMZ.
But when he got to there, he saw Rodas trying to help employees figure out what was wrong with a red Porsche Carrera GT that kept stalling.
Rodas was behind the wheel, backing the pricy car out of the garage, when Walker hopped into the passenger seat and the pair took off to trouble-shoot, sources said.
They were returning from a 20-minute spin when they tragically crashed — just 500 yards from the shop.
Cops said Rodas, 38, had been speeding.
“There was a post-collision fire, and the bodies are not visually identifiable,” said Dana Bee, a deputy coroner with the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office.
The office said it had contacted the victims’ families.
“We are working to legally obtain the dental records,” Bee said.
A photo snapped shortly before the fiery crash shows Walker getting into the red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT.
He had attended a fund-raiser to benefit victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and had left the event when the car careened out of control and crashed, bursting into flames in a business park in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles.
A video posted online by a man who drove up on the fiery scene shows a mangled heap of steel engulfed in flame.
“Drive away! It’s gonna blow up!” a person is heard saying before a loud explosion.
Onlookers asked for hoses as they tried to douse the flames.
“The car is in half. I can’t tell if there is someone in there,” another witness is heard saying.
A friend of Walker told the Santa Clara Valley Signal newspaper that he and others tried to save the men from the burning wreckage.
“We all ran around and jumped in cars and grabbed fire extinguishers and immediately went to the vehicle,” Antonio Holmes told the paper.
“It was engulfed in flames. There was nothing. They were trapped.”
Colleagues mourned the actor, who has played undercover cop Brian O’Conner in five of the six “Fast & Furious” movies and had been filming a seventh.
“Brother I will miss you very much. I am absolutely speechless,” co-star Vin Diesel wrote on Instagram, posting a photo of himself with the actor. “Heaven has gained a new Angel. Rest in Peace.”
Diesel also tweeted: “My brother and I ... we aimed for the stars together ... and achieved more than we ever hoped we could with f&f.”
Another “Fast” co-star, rapper Ludacris, also payed tribute and posted to Instagram a still of the cast printed with the words, “Thankful for the Fast family.”
“Your humble spirit was felt from the start, wherever you blessed your presence you always left a mark,” he wrote. “We were like brothers & our birthdays are only 1 day apart, now You will forever hold a place in all of our hearts @paulwalker legacy will live on forever. R.I.P.”
Fans of Walker, who leaves a 15-year-old daughter, set up a makeshift memorial at the crash site Sunday, placing flowers, candle and notes.
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