Power steering problem

[Warren Seale]

Well I took out my power steering pump out to install a new high pressure hose, change the fluid, and paint it. I put it back following the recommended bleeding steps of turning the pump counter clockwise until all of the bubbles have gone away in the resovoir and I lifted the front end of the car and turned the wheels from stop to stop several time with the pump at normal operating temp. These steps apparently did not eliminate the air since I still get no assist with the weight of the car on the wheels. The pump makes a hissing sound when I try to turn the steering wheel but there is still no power steering. The engine speed does not seem to slow any when I do this. Any help with clearing this cavitation will be appreciated.

Warren

[94 formula]

Keep bleeding it. I had mine out when I replaced my engine and it took awhile to get it bled out. I sat in the car with the front end raised and turned the wheel back and fourth about 5 times and had a friend top off the resivour after that. I'd trying bleeding it out somemore to start with.

[Warren Seale]

Thanks. Here is another bit of info.

I also had the high presssure union (big nut where pressure hose screws in) out to change the o ring. I was carefull not to allow the spring loaded valve to fly out. I carefully screwed the union back without doing anything else.


This is a 70's era pump.

Warren

[Trash man]

maybe the shaft broke?

[Joe 1320]

You may have to go through several bleed proceedures, if that doesn't cure it, the pump just may have gone south. I've had what seemed like a perfectly good pump fail as soon as I changed a hose and refilled with fresh fluid.

[Warren Seale]

I removed the high and low pressure hoses, filled the resovoir, put the low pressure hose into a jar of fluid, and turned the pump by hand. When I did this, fluid dribbled out of the high pressure line into another jar. I continued to do this until and got about 4 oz of fluid out of the line. I kept the resovoir full. I figured that the pump must be primed pretty good now. I reconnected the lines and found the same problem.

I think something happened when I took the union fitting out to replace the o ring, but I don't know what could have happened. Now I will remove the pump, take out the union fitting, and pull the pressure release valve out. What should I look for after I do this? This is new territory for me. Are there any local shops around these days that can test these pumps? If so what kind of shops are they?

Thanks,
Warren

[pete]

Just replace the pump. I don't think there is a rebuild kit for it anyway.

[Warren Seale]

It was the pump that went bad. I don't understand why it went bad. It worked before I took it out to replace the high pressure hose. It did sit for about 3 weeks without a full load of fluid while I was for Inline Tube to fab a copy of my original hose. I guess sh*t happens when car stuff gets to be 25 years old.

Warren

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

Man that's wierd how a pump can just go bad like that. Just today my buddy went to get gas in his truck and when he went to start it, the fuel pump was dead. He never ran it out of gas or anything, it just died. He claimed it was the Dodge planned obsolescence strategy at work.