2003 Ram 1500 2wd v6 75k miles. I have power steering fluid on top of res. When I open the res. to check the fluid there is pressure pop when I remove the cap. This is the second pump I've installed. The first pump was an ac/delco reman
pump. It lasted about a month. The second pump is from a salvage yard 04 model 1500. It also lasted about a month. The rack does not have a visible leak. I flushed the power steering system per service manual and tsb procedure documented on this site. My questions are 1. What causes back pressure at the res? 2. Could the rack cause this problem? 3. Maybe I am doing something wrong? This is my first post so, please bear with me. Help will be greatly appreciated.

 

My Ram and my C both "pop" when I remove the cap. Maybe the rack and pinion setup keep some pressure on the system. Anyway, it seems normal. Is it possible there is an air bubble in the lines somewhere? If the pump is trying to move air, it won't be well lubricated.

 

Thanks for the reply. Does yours leak power steering fluid out of the top of the res?

 

Maybe drill a hole in the cap and put a small hose or tube in it to vent the pressure?

 

Thanks weedahoe for the idea. Is this a known problem with these trucks.

 

Definitely no leaking from the cap. It has an intermittent leak on one of the hoses. I wonder if venting the cap is such a good idea. If it's supposed to have some pressure, that may be a bad thing.

 

Good point about the venting Mike.