Power Steering Pump re-build or replace (1 Viewer)

After replacing my water pump and timing belt and the serp belt, I lost the nut holding the pulley. Yes exiting the highway doing 60-70mph was interesting. At the stop light the steering came back. After getting gas, I looked all around and saw the pulley did not look right, it was barely hanging on.
Lesson learned: when the FSM has the black diamond on it, pay attention - these are non-reusable parts.
I thought I could just get the right nut and all would be fine but I stripped the pulley and wore down the Vane Pump Shaft a bit.
Choices: 1. replace just the pulley and see if it holds to the shaft?, 2. Replace the shaft - the FSM walks me through the Disassembly, but I don't see that the shaft is sold by itself. I will call C-Dan in the morning.
3. On-line I can see the entire pump assembly costing $227 - not bad if that includes the new pulley.

I noticed that the shaft turns fairly easy and without testing it, it feels below the pressure listed - perhaps this is the issue with the other PS issues in this thread (22) they just wear out - referring to the torque in SR 39 at 2.4 inch lbs.? It may have damaged itself and the entire unit gets replaced. soon I will have mostly new parts in there. Just wanted to share - if anyone is planning on wrenching the timing belt or water pump, remember to order all those BLACK DIAMOND PARTS!!!

Good luck.

The parts man does it again C-Dan came through, the shaft is available along with the rebuild kit I will have a new shaft and pulley and all new seals.
It seems fairly straightforward, but if anyone has hints doing the power steering fluid flush, I am all ears. I read a 80 owner turned his steering wheel back and forth and that helps with the flush?
If anyone knows, will there be fluid leak when removing the lines? Or when the unit is removed from the vehicle?
Thanks

When its all back together jack the front wheels off the ground and work the wheel back-and-forth from turn stop to turn stop to bleed air from the system.

My guess is fluid leaking at every stage but that is based on my understanding of Murphy's Law not any specific experience.

Generic steering box replacement thread from About.com

This rebuild will of course require a new thread and detailed pictures. Good Luck!

NMuzj100 said:

When its all back together jack the front wheels off the ground and work the wheel back-and-forth from turn stop to turn stop to bleed air from the system.

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X2 Then check the level every day before you drive it for a week or so.

BMWSTOY said:

The parts man does it again C-Dan came through, the shaft is available along with the rebuild kit I will have a new shaft and pulley and all new seals.
It seems fairly straightforward, but if anyone has hints doing the power steering fluid flush, I am all ears. I read a 80 owner turned his steering wheel back and forth and that helps with the flush?
If anyone knows, will there be fluid leak when removing the lines? Or when the unit is removed from the vehicle?
Thanks

Click to expand...

IIRC, this is the method recommended by the FSM to bleed the system.

Job Complete

The factory service manual is a must for this job, there are too many parts to keep track of and they go all different directions. Example: SR-44 the Reassembly has marks for the vane pump rotor and the vane plates (10 of them) and they only go in one way and you have to look real close to get it right. FOLLOW THE FSM - no brainier IMHO.

1. The pressure port union bolt is a pain to get off and a pain to get back on. There is a "Stopper" that is designed to lean against the pump body itself to tighten the bolt - mine is a tad bent and it took creative use of tools to hold it in place. Getting it off, there is nothing to stop the feed tube from spinning, so I lost a vent tube - luckily they are plastic and they super glue very nice. Getting it back on, I lost the other - again thank the person for the invention of super glue - these are air tubes and are not under any type of pressure or force - they should hold. If not that piece should be easy to replace.

2. During the rebuild, I was wanting everything to stay in place - give up this idea - the 10 vane plates will fall out, just make sure you keep all 10 and put them back in with the rounded side facing outward.

3. Either mine was rebuilt or the factory forgot some o-rings - according to the fsm, I put in 2 and did not take any out.

4. Don't know if I needed to power bleed the system but after loosing almost a quart of fluid during the removal - yes Murphy's law was right a lot of fluid will come out - I added a bunch back in so I jacked it up and rotated the wheel back and forth a couple of times - bubbles are hard to see in the reservoir, but I think I saw some, so I am glad I bleed the system. - This part was easy and rewarding.

All in all fairly simple, except for holding the Pressure tube in place while getting light on the parts and getting the socket wrench on the bolt - 2 mudders would be nice - of course.
Did not take many pics as I was struggling with holding the parts while wrenching and nothing out of the ordinary that the FSM does not show, so here is a shot for the threads sake.

As BMWSTOY alluded to, the FSM says for bleeding the PS, you first jack up the front end and turn the wheel slowly from lock to lock a few times while the engine is off. Then lower car to the ground, start engine, turn wheel to one side's lock and hold it for 2-3 sec, then turn it to the opposite side lock & hold it for 3 sec. Repeat this a few times. If you still have air in the system, repeat the part w/ the engine on and wheels on the ground.

Just to Add to Jim's notes, the manual also indicates that if you still see air bubbles after the first bleed, you likely have some sort of leak. It states that if a second time is required, it is not normal.
Again, its not easy getting everything tight per the ft lbs required, so power bleeding will tell you if you have any air entering into the system.

I sure like the way the cruiser looked jacked up in the air

Part 2 - the Correct way

I developed a small leak - nothing big, but a leak just the same and it was annoying after rebuilding the power steering vane pump and waiting for the parts. At least the second time is so much easier, I know what to look for and I know what to avoid. The real key to this job is holding the pressure feed tube in place while taking it off and putting it back on - if you can do that, the rest is straight forward. Oh, and catching the qt of fluid that will leak out

The FSM was a little confusing to me. Just to prove it, it states that both lower engine covers are to come off - er, what for? For the rebuild: It does not have the greatest picture or diagram and indicated that the dimples on the main gasket were to face down - so the first time without using common sense I just put them down and put it back together - See photo number 1. This should have been obvious to me but for some reason it was not (did I mention I am not a mechanic by trade). The hole is the power pump and it uses enough pressure to knock away a piece of the seal to the main gasket and caused a dribble leak.

Photo number 2 is the correct way - to me the dimples are up, but at least it fits better now and it did not leak in the first 20 miles, fingers crossed.
At least the pictures show the interesting pump system with the 10 vane plates that fall out and all over the place - very interesting design.

Cheers - livestrong

BMWSTOY said:

The FSM was a little confusing to me. Just to prove it, it states that both lower engine covers are to come off - er, what for?

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I think that some parts of the FSM must be cut and paste from other manuals with only 100 series diagrams added.

Other information in the FSM is so totally worthless it's hard to imagine it ever being used by anybody
- 82 pages of "Preparation" - a list of tools with pictures but no context at all. (but only 8 pages for "Maintenance")
- Page PP-1 has only three words in a box, no pictures or diagrams and the words don't make a sentence.
- PP-76 - an entire page dedicated to the words "MP Grease"

Service specifications important to a job like torque values and fluid capacities are actually in a different volume from where the procedure is described. Sometimes the procedures manual has cross-references that take up more space than providing the complete information would.

But some very common problems are nowhere to be found. No worksheet or diagnostic procedure for "Vibration".

This is a helpful post. I just replaced my timing belt and drive belt but reused this pump pulley nut. I took a 400 mile trip without incident. After reading this post, I checked and the nut and pulley were fine. But a nut failure here is a disaster and I will install another. Wonder why the nut is brasslike rather than being hardened.

The rebuild info given here for the pump will be useful if the need arises. We take that pump for granted, don't we? Catlin

I took a close look at the nut. It has blue locktite residue in the threads. I believe the nut is nothing special except that it should be loctited in place. I used Loctite 243, which is also blue and medium strength. Obviously, cost is not prohibitive, but convenience in going back to the dealer was my issue. Let me know if I'm wrong here. I think the new nut will have loctite pre-applied.

I noted someone proposed it was brass, but it is actually yellow cad-plated steel, which is a very common fastener material.

Thanks @BMWSTOY for doing this writeup. Interesting info on the o-rings. How did your rebuild hold up? Has anyone else rebuilt one of these with success? I am considering doing this as an option.

I always locktite my pulley bolts and all suspension and brake caliper bolts. Lost a idler wheel once 200 miles from home on another vehicle. Used locktite ever since.

Took mine apart and according to FSM gaps are out of specs, buying a new unit.