I spent yesterday rebuilding my power steering pump and was planning to write-up a DIY for the forum; however, I seem to have an issue. I don't have power steering.

I topped off the reservoir, fired up the truck, and waited for some of the air in the lines to expel. I've tried cycling the steering wheel back and forth while holding the engine RPM to ~1,000-1,500 and so far it seems I'm getting P/S fluid shot everywhere. A couple of times, I cycled the throttle at the TB and watched the fluid. At first, the level would rise with an increase in RPM and then drop at a decrease. Now, I'm not getting much of anything.

A web search led me to a tech forum where a diagnosis of air in the system is indicated by a growling noise from the pump. The pump is making some time of growling/whining noise, so I'm assuming there is air in the system; however, I can't seem to cure this situation. Unfortunately, I don't have my helper here today and I'm to the point I might take it in and get a rebuilt pump, but that defeats the purpose of my getting a rebuild kit from the start. I'm positive everything went back together like it was supposed to as I follow all of the diagrams.

So, any suggestions or tips? I'm flustered at this point.

 

Sounds like the rebuild went wrong some how. But if it didn't , how did you do the fill procedure? You are suppose to fill it to the cold line and let it settle for 5 or so minutes, then fill it again to cold mark. Start the engine for a few seconds, shut off and refill to cold mark again. Then you should raise the front of the truck off the ground and turn the wheel lock to lock slowly like 20 times each way.Refill again if needed. Lower truck, start it up and turn wheel slowly lock to lock again a couple times each way. Turn it off and refill if needed. If it's foamy let it set a while with the cap off.

 

I installed the pump and added fluid. I started the truck and then waited for a few. While at idle, I goosed the throttle a couple of times to watch the fluid drop and air burp. Kept at it and then tried to cycle the steering. Damn, am I out of shape. I tried driving around the yard, with the cap off, at low speed to see if that would help. Nothing. Kept noticing fluid and figured it was from an earlier incident where I didn't tighten the reservoir properly and had to correct that.

After my post, I re-read that link I found and found that it stated to jack up the front end and cycle the steering. Well, while doing that, fluid started gushing out. I pulled the pump as best I could (without making a mess) and couldn't find any signs of leakage. I returned to the vehicle to inspect the high pressure line and found that the O-ring was trashed. Looks like I botch that during the install.

So, I have to get a new O-ring and I'm thinking of just getting a new pump, unless the O-ring being torn made a difference, but I doubt that.

Zman, you have a PM.

 

Well, I got a new O-ring and reassembled everything. No leaks, but no power steering. I jacked up the front of my truck and cycled the steering wheel back and forth several times, with 3-second delays at a full turn. I stood on a car ramp, outside of the truck, and watched the fluid in the reservoir while I turned the steering wheel. At full right, the fluid level would approach the filler opening.

I determined that the reservoir was too full, so I drained some fluid and then added a bit as too much was drained. I tried the same with cycling the steering wheel back and forth. I checked inside of the reservoir to see just a few (20 or so) clustered bubbles. That was it. I reinstalled the cap, closed the hood, and drove my truck backward and forward a few times.

No power steering. Now, I'm stumped.

 

One thing I didn't ask when we spoke. Why did you rebuild it and did you have PS before you did ? Since it not the Oring, maybe the pump was damaged beyond repair,and rebuilding it wasn't going to fix it.

 

^^ My low pressure line sprung a pinhole leak last week, so I figured that after 176K miles I would go in and replace the lines as well as rebuilding the pump.

On the way to work this morning, I kept re-running everything I did through my head and it finally hit me -- I installed the piston in the pressure side backwards.

So, after I get out of school tonight, I'll get another bottle of fluid, run home, and get that remedied. It's pretty sad that I can have the pump out of the truck, repaired, and reinstalled inside of 45 minutes

Seriously, these things are easy to rebuild. This was *almost* as frustrating as your plumbing project

 

Yeah the pump isn't hard to tackle... 4 bolts, a nut, and two ps lines. I went for the rebuilt pump w/ resivour off the bat becasue I didn't want to run into the hassel of something like this. While you might have come out cheaper initially, isn't by much at this point. Hope it works out and didn't damage your pump.

 

Ehh, I learned something, so I'm not out anything. I'm tired of people acting like everything under the hood of a vehicle is a big, shrouded mystery. Once the learning curve is tackled I'm prepared for the next time, so I don't count it as being out of anything.

I used this page as a guide because it's the exact same pump. If you look at photographs #4 and #22, the author has the flow control valve and spring positioned improperly. That's what threw me off, and it irks me that he posted the pictures like that. He makes it look like the flow control valve and spring are inserted into the bore that way, when it's actually the valve should be inserted flat end first, followed by the spring.

 

Where was I acting like everything under the hood of a vehicle is a big, shrouded mystery? I've tackled this before a few times already, but just said that for the cost difference between with or w/o resivour, it wasn't worth my time to rebuild it. Buy it, install it, and get back on the road. Do what you gotta do.

 

$11 for a rebuild kit and 45 minutes -- maybe an hour, and the pump it rebuilt versus $60 for a rebuilt pump assuming the old one is taken for a core. The next time I have to do it, I know how/what to do. Plus, I was short on funds for the rebuilt pump.