Power Steering Pump

[DeLo360]

Hey guys, i just want to make sure i'm diagnosing the problem correctly. A few months ago i had a power steering leak that i had fixed. When the dealer fixed it he said the pump has a slight noise comning out of it b/c of the strain on the pump being without fluid. And he added that it might go in a few months or so.

Well, a few months later my power steering went out on me. It all started with a very horrible ticking noise from the pump i believe, which lasted about a night and then it turned to squeeling. I'm pretty sure its not the belt, so i figure it to be the pump. Let me know if this sounds about right. And how many miles do you guys think a pump should last for. I am at 100K. Also is the A/C associated with the PS pump in any way, b/c that started going out on me at the exact same time. The A/C light starts blinking and it does not work when i make turns with the car.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[brute]

Tighten your belt! It sqeals because it's loose. And when it's loose, the pump doesn't turn. That's why you don't have it. You could also check the mount that the pump is attached to. It should bolt to the block. If that's loose, tighten the bolts up and re-tension the belt.

 

[halik008]

well turn the car on and pop the hood and listen where the noise is coming from...ticking PS pump means it's low on fuild 99% of the time, squeeling means ## belts are loose.

A/C isn't associated with the PS pump....alternator is tho. A/C has it's own pulley and belt. PS pump and Alty share a pulley.

 

[DeLo360]

Ok.. i just checked the belt, and its fine. I even tightened it up a little more just to make sure, and the squeel is still there. Keep in mind its at the same repetition when in idle as when i'm driving. Also, i figure it cant be the belt b/c i've had a sqeeling belt before and those things tend to get worse as rpms increase. But this sqeeling is independent of the rpms.

Secondly i noticed somehting new though. Its hard to turn when the car is standing still but it gets even harder to turn the wheel when i have the A/C on. In fact, with the A/C on i notice that the pully on the PS pump just plain stops when i attempt to turn the wheel, this also confirms that it cant be the belt.

My guess is that the PS pump is broken and is taking a lot more power to even come close to powering the steering column. That combined with the A/C using up power, and the PS pump stops functioning all together.

I dont know if my logic is flawed, but whatever is wrong the engine cant send enough power through the belt to turn that PS pulley. Both the belt and the pulley are dead stopped.

So what do you think?

Dave

Edit: fluid is fine.

 

[DeLo360]

Ok problem fixed. I have replaced the power steering pump and added a new belt since the old one is about 30K old. Took a little bit of driving to get the air out of the lines, but now all is well.

For those that care, it took me about 3.5 hours to do the whole swap.