Looking to replace my power steering pump on my own for my 2017 Dodge Caravan. Does anyone have experience with CARDONE brand being good? I am eyeing a NEW (not reman) Cardone power steering pump on Rock Auto.

Also any good procedures out there that someone can recommend for bleeding the power steering system of air after i replace the pump? I definitely want to do what I can to not damage my newly installed pump when finished.

Seems maybe the turning the wheels from side to side with front off the ground and vehicle off seems like a nice procedure to force a lot of air out, but looking for a some good instructions.

Thanks!

 

It seems strange that a 3-year old van would need a new power steering pump. Is it leaking? If so, are you sure that the leak is at the pump.

In general, BBB, Cardone, and A1 are not considered high quality replacement parts. This doesn't mean that the parts will not be adequate, but I think there is increased probability that the part will be DOA or will fail quickly. At the very least, you would not expect the part to last as long as an OE part. If you look at cost, a re-manufactured Mopar or ACDelco costs $230-$260, even at RockAuto. You have to consider the resulting product when you put $250 dollars in materials and labor into the re-manufacture of a part that was a quality part in the first place, as compared to approximately half that amount in materials and labor ($120) put into a new part. Certainly for the OE brand some of this is just overcharging, but in general you would just not expect a half price new part to be of the same quality.

I just ordered some Cardone parts today, so I'm not saying that there is no situation where they make sense. For me, it just depends on what the part is.

I would probably go with the ACDelco re-manufactured part, even though it is $100 more. Replacing a PS pump is not like pulling the engine, but you will have to remove allot of stuff to get to the pump. You don't want to end up doing it again next year because you ended up with a bad part. Cheap PS pumps can be noisy, even when they are installed correctly.

Let me know if you are still looking for a procedure for bleeding the system.

LMHmedchem

 

I will personally never use Rock Auto again.
The little bit of why I wont use them, not as user friendly as other sites but if you know what your looking for and spend a little time with the site I can look past that.
The big part. They don't seem to vet their suppliers well. I ordered 4 fuel injectors through them and 2 of the 4 were bad from the start. I verified first after installing when the engine barely ran then I tested with a multi-meter. The ohms of one was almost past what mine could read and the other was past what it could read. 1 I could understand, nothing is perfect even with new parts. 2, I feel like I wasted my PowerBall luck betting 2 bad out of 4.
I will spend a little more and get from stores that vet their suppliers better.

 

Curious what you did to determine the pump was bad?

As far as bleeding goes (I've not read the proceedure) you could just leave the belt off, the engine off as well, and turn the pump by hand and with the wheels in 1 direction, and then the other. I'm totally guessing though. I had a hose come off a power steering rack in my 1990 Cutlass Ciera while away at college. I drove it for a semester then found that I just needed to tighten the hose at the rack and fill it back up. Bam! I had power steering again. I just don't think the racks are that fragile. For that matter neither are pumps. The bearing in a pump should last 10 years or 100,000 miles at a minimum.