I thought you did it lock-to-lock with the wheels off the ground, without starting it. Also have the power steering pump lid slightly off so you can let air out, and fill as needed. Did my power steering pump and had to do the lock-to-lock a couple times I did take it for a drive after the first time and I did not have any power steering when going slow, and no gas. Soon as the RPMs went up, I got my power steering back. I think it was air in the system and it seemed fine last time I drove it.

 

I will give it another try with the car not running and see what happens. I had the reservoir cap off yesterday when I went lock to lock with the car running. I have not had to add any fluid and that kind of has me worried. This power steering has turned into a nightmare.

 

i feel like Plano Doug might have some useful insight on this one, maybe see if he can give ideas. or Maven.

 

Thanks <blushing> I'm flattered. Not sure how much I can help, but here goes.

FWIW, for doing the lock-to-lock, I prefer to do it with the tires on the ground in order to give some resistance, to make the pump and rack do some work. I have some hard, 1/4" thick plastic sheets I use under the tires to prevent scrubbing off the rubber. A couple layers of corrugated cardboard should work just as well.

Anyway, to be clear, the lock-to-lock turning needs to be done with the motor running and the pump filled properly with power steering fluid.

Thinking about this on the drive into work this morning, I'm focused on the power steering pump. I don't think I've ever seen one fail, but I've also never seen a rack completely fail to provide any assistance. It may work better in one direction than the other, or it may have a sticky spot, but I can't say I've seen one completely stop assisting (when it was being properly pumped with hydraulic fluid). Plus, it was stated the rack was working when it was on the parts car.

So I'm leaning towards the pump, but I'm not enough of an expert to know how to evaluate one. That said, I would expect to see some air bubbles forming in the pump reservoir as the wheel is being turned lock-to-lock.

If not, I doubt the pump is working. At that point, I would remove the belt and turn the pump by hand to see how it feels. Is there any resistance? I think the pump uses an impeller, which means that, if there's a clog in the high pressure path, it will just cavitate, but the clog won't prevent the pulley wheel from turning. Also, while turning the pump wheel back and forth, see if you can feel any play or clunking that might indicate the impeller has come loose.

It's messy, but you might also disconnect the high pressure line on both ends and try to blow it out, to be sure there's nothing clogging it.

Those are my thoughts. Hopefully Maven or others will chime in. I'm sure there's a more definitive procedure for diagnosing the pump.

HTH.

Doug

.

 

It has lots of foamy bubbles in the reservoir after going lock to lock. The only time it squeals is when its turned either direction all the way and held. I messed with it today for 40 minutes with the wheels jacked up running and not running and then with the wheels on the ground running. If I turn the steering wheel very,very slowly it turns easy. But turning it normal its really hard to turn. Could it be possible water somehow got inside the rack while I had it stored? And if it did does the rack have enough space to where that amount of water could effect the steering? When I pulled the rack from the parts car I cut the high pressure hose in the rubber part and threaded a large bolt in the rubber to keep any contaminates out. Did the same thing on the return line.

 

I replaced 5 pumps before I realized that there was a kink in the tube to the reservoir that prevented fluid from getting enough to give me power assist.That was a bad summer.

 

Do you have a pump you can swap from your parts car? I might try that just to rule it out. With the tires of the ground and the engine on, if you rev the engine are you able to turn the wheel quickly then? Sounds like you don't have enough pressure to me...but I am no expert.

 

My son let one of his friends have the parts car pump. I wish I would have thought of that last weekend when they had a all you can carry for $64.99 sale at the junk yard. I could have easily thrown a pump on the pile of parts I got.