New to the site, first gen Charger fan. Having problems with my 2001 Grand Caravan, Last week it developed a leak at the power steering cooler, quick fix was a piece of 3/8 tubing and a few clamps. Lasted i week to the day. Yesterday morning it spung a leak on hose one, cut it back , reconnected , off I went. Lasted an hour. Returned home, put it on the hoist. Replaced the line. Started it up, bang, it blows the other line. Ok, change the second line , start it up, again a small bang and it blew the steel line out. Ok, the 3/8 steel had no barbs on it so I looped a one foot 3/8 fuel line from barb to barb. Start it up, again a small bang and this time it blew the line from the reservior off, showering everything in front of the van with fluid.

Is there a presure regulator built into the pump

 

yep. It blows the line off without turning the wheel? The cooler is on the return side of the system, not the pressure side. Would almost assume you have a blockage or a pinched line somewhere.

 

Tizzy 1;

That is what I trying to detrermin, return side or not. The fact that it blew the 3/8 line off the reservior, is what is making me scratch my head. I heard earlier this morning that the 2001 reservoirs had filter issues.

 

The filter is on the side that is sucking into the pump, wouldn't cause an issue. The hose size is 11/32, if you put to large of a hose on, it could also cause an issue. Do you have the finned cooler or just the tubing loop?

 

Just the loop tubing at this time, 18 inches or so. I've talked to several people in the past half hour, going to run out to the shop to check a few issues. Hoping it is not the relief valve in the pump. Going to check to see if I may have damaged a line.

 

Ok, I just want to check the port on the reservior,Two hoses, one large off the bottom, goes to the punp ,I asume.And the 11/32 , off the side is the return. The 11/32 port on the side, I just took another piece of hose and blew thru it ,no restriction. So wy would the hose blow off, as apposed to just blowing the contents of the reservoir straight up or out,could it be possible the plug was there at the port, and when it came apart the debris, hit the floor?

 

It's possible the restriction was at the reservoir. You are correct, large hose off the back is pump feed and the small hose to the side is return. There are screen issues with the reservoir but that just gives you noise issues. They had issues with the tube cooler for a shudder when turning and had you install the finned cooler. Didn't make much difference, still had the shudder, kinda built into these vans. With the hose on the reservoir, you should be able to blow from the outlet of the rack to the reservoir.

 

So I have an understang of the way this works, the fluid goes thru the cooler first, and then to the reservior. If so, if the restriction was at the reservior port, than would that, account for such a high presure on the cooler line?

Going to get back at it after lunch, have to put up a cardboard shield, that last spray made a mess!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Fluid starts at the reservoir, goes to the pump and gets presurized. It is high pressure to the steering rack. The spool valve in the rack uses the fluid pressure to assist steering. When it leaves the rack it is the return side and is low pressure. It goes through the cooler and back to the reservoir. There is a special tool used to diagnose the issue, measures pressure and flow. Normal idle pressure on the high side is 100 - 275psi. Flow is 1.5 gpm. Dead head pressure is 1400 -1500psi. You would determine a restriction by lack of flow since return side pressure is not tested.

 

Tizzy;

Well there you go!!!! Reconnected the return line, readjusted the fluid level. Started it up, stood back, Running like a charm. Had to be a blockage at the reservior and when it blew off ,what ever was blocking the port is now covering the front of my spray booth, I have some serius cleaning to do. Going to pick up a replacement cooler in the next couple of days. Thank you very much!!!!!, for your time and imput.

James