steering gear replacement

[minnickb]

I got the flow control valve out of the pump.

U-tube video of a pump rebuild says there should be a spring inside.... no spring.

It might be stuck inside. its hard to see in the driveway. The pump's been fine for a year & a half.

 

No muck or any thing looking plugged.

Should I run the the pump w/ fluid to try and blow anything out?

 

enough for today. its dark & late

[DaveH71]

how is the steering gear turning now that you have everything apart?

[minnickb]

I pulled the flow control valve as the tech suggested . It didn't look plug, but cleaned it.

I added fluid. Figured I'd run the pump, to blow out any stuff from the pump.

The fluid just leaked out on the ground prior to running the pump, There appears to be no clog in the pump.

I put the flow control valve back in, hooked up the pressure line.

Return line to the pump still disconnected,and tried to flush.... nothing out of the return line.

I pulled the high pressure line input to the steering gear... ran the pump... no flow/no fluid.

Who knew, a new steering gear replacement could frap a power steering pump.

Next step is a new High pressure line from the pump to the gear. It might be plugged, but I doubt it.

After that is a new pump.

Probably won't happen until Sat.

 

Its all good,

Man vs. Machine

[minnickb]

This is almost becoming surreal.

I replaced the power steering pump & HI pressure hose this morning.

Tried to flush the system.... nothing.

I then pull the HI side hose from the steering gear and ran the pump..... nothing

Just back from A.Z. with a replacement pump to try again.

 

I started @ 6:00 this morning to beat the heat. Its now 2:00 & 115F outside.

 

Its not suppose to be this hard

[minnickb]

in case anyone is still following along w/ this saga,

New pump is in. HI pressure hose disconnected from the steering gear.

There was flow!!! This one works.

 

I'm just about to hook the pressure line up to the gear.

[minnickb]

I have power steering again. yeah !!!!!

 

Fluid looks milky again though. It gotta just be air bubbles.

 

I'm going to wait 30 min or so and see if it still works.

[DaveH71]

So bad pump then?

[minnickb]

Summary to conclude this post. Maybe it will help someone in the future

Power steering is great. I've driven to work the last 2 day. Works like its new.

 

In retrospect, here's what I think happened.

 

1) replaced the steering gear

2) no power steering

3) called gear supplier, he suggested the pump output flow control valve was plugged. I inspected (on vehicle) didn't really see anything, but didn't find a spring that should have been there.

4) replaced power steering pump. no joy. Dead out of the box.

5) I returned the pump & installed a replacement. Everything is good.

 

The tech at Cardone suggested some type of FOD must have plugged up the output of my original pump, hence no pressure to the gear.

I took out the valve and noticed there wasn't a spring inside as there should be. That is what told me to replace the pump.

I couldn't explain the lack of the spring, even though the pump had been working fine for ~2 years. A real head scratcher.

 

When the 1st replacement pump didn't work, I decided to pull the flow control valve on it to have a look. I was returning it for replacement anyway, so I couldn't break it any further.

I found that there is a spring, but the spring has a metal disc on top of it. I could push on the disk, and feel the spring.

 

Well, on my original pump, when I put my finger in the opening, I could feel a bottom to the cavity, but no spring.

Note, I turned in my original pump for a core when I got the 1st new one so I couldn't look at it anymore. A lesson learned: Don't turn in your core until you are done.

I'm not fully sure how the pump flow regulator, but here is my theory:

On the original pump, I wasn't feeling the bottom of the cavity. I was feeling the metal disk on top of the spring. The spring was fully compressed and hung up on something.

When I was originally bleeding the air out of the system, something burped (or similar) and it caused the spring to compress and get caught.. hence no pressure/flow to the system

I think if I had poked with a screw driver or something similar, I could have dislodged the spring and everything would have been fine.

 

Thats the theory.

It was more of a job than expected, but as I said in an earlier post... man vs. machine.

 

Thanks for the suggestions & ideas.

[LongrangeLauber]

Summary to conclude this post. Maybe it will help someone in the future

Power steering is great. I've driven to work the last 2 day. Works like its new.

 

In retrospect, here's what I think happened.

 

1) replaced the steering gear

2) no power steering

3) called gear supplier, he suggested the pump output flow control valve was plugged. I inspected (on vehicle) didn't really see anything, but didn't find a spring that should have been there.

4) replaced power steering pump. no joy. Dead out of the box.

5) I returned the pump & installed a replacement. Everything is good.

 

The tech at Cardone suggested some type of FOD must have plugged up the output of my original pump, hence no pressure to the gear.

I took out the valve and noticed there wasn't a spring inside as there should be. That is what told me to replace the pump.

I couldn't explain the lack of the spring, even though the pump had been working fine for ~2 years. A real head scratcher.

 

When the 1st replacement pump didn't work, I decided to pull the flow control valve on it to have a look. I was returning it for replacement anyway, so I couldn't break it any further.

I found that there is a spring, but the spring has a metal disc on top of it. I could push on the disk, and feel the spring.

 

Well, on my original pump, when I put my finger in the opening, I could feel a bottom to the cavity, but no spring.

Note, I turned in my original pump for a core when I got the 1st new one so I couldn't look at it anymore. A lesson learned: Don't turn in your core until you are done.

I'm not fully sure how the pump flow regulator, but here is my theory:

On the original pump, I wasn't feeling the bottom of the cavity. I was feeling the metal disk on top of the spring. The spring was fully compressed and hung up on something.

When I was originally bleeding the air out of the system, something burped (or similar) and it caused the spring to compress and get caught.. hence no pressure/flow to the system

I think if I had poked with a screw driver or something similar, I could have dislodged the spring and everything would have been fine.

 

Thats the theory.

It was more of a job than expected, but as I said in an earlier post... man vs. machine.

 

Thanks for the suggestions & ideas.

Is your steering still loose after gear replacement? I replaced mine two years ago and it felt exactly the same as the stock one. But I had 290k at the time of replacement and got the replacement at autozone

[jBlaze3000]

The only steering gear I've ever replaced was on a Dodge Dakota after replacing upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, and still getting play from the steering wheel.

 

The new steering gear made no difference. Was told that they are kind of a crap shoot.

[minnickb]

FInal:

I've been driving for 2 weeks, including approx 400 mile road trip last weekend.

Drives like its new.

[LongrangeLauber]

FInal:

I've been driving for 2 weeks, including approx 400 mile road trip last weekend.

Drives like its new.

Where did you get your replacement gear? And is it pretty tight? My truck swerves a lot and I've actually been pulled over for it because the cop though I had been drinking

[Mikeb52r]

That was one heck of a story. Glad to hear that everything worked out for you! Your nerves had to be shot At the end.