Intermittent Difficult Steering (1 Viewer)

[84T4R]

Ok, I have one for you guys. Recently purchased an 80 and I dove into all the general maintenance. Before tearing everything apart, it steered just fine, but there was a pretty serious power steering leak from the fill line on the reservoir. So during my maintenance I replaced serpentine belts, brake pads and rotors on all 4 corners, vacuumed lines, fuel line, coolant hoses, power steering lines, ect.

After getting it back on the road I had very stiff steering. I flushed the P.S. system replacing the fluid with ATF and burped the pump by going lock to lock about 20 times, letting any air escape ever 5 or so locks. It does groan at full lock in either direction. This seemed to help but I still have very tough steering intermittently at low speeds or when going from one direction to the other like when I’m trying to back into a parking spot. I’m stumped… I’ve read post saying everything from P.S. pump, steering box, air in the system, and even knuckle bearings.

Any thoughts? Tips? Experience? Going on a roadtrip at the end of next month and I want to get this sorted before leaving.

 

[CharlieS]

I had a similar issue and resolved it by following the bleeding procedure in the factory service manual. Did you raise the front wheels off the ground in your bleed procedure?

 

[TheBussman]

sounds like air, either air is still trapped from after your repairs or there is a tiny leak just before the pump (or inside the pump) that is drawing air into the system.

 

[alia176]

Just keep driving and it may sort itself out!!

 

[mudgudgeon]

Air in the ps fluid is the low hanging fruit .

Are you still seeing bubbles in the reservoir after driving it?

I agree with above, it can take some time for all the air to work out of the system.

Start with jacking the front up, and turning the wheels left to right, first no engine running then with engine running, then drive it, let it sit, drive it, repeat.

If you've done all that, and there's no bubbles/ foam in the reservior, then you may need to look to other things.

I had trunnion bearings break down in one of my cruisers. Could definitely feel resistance as the bad bearings bound up near full lock.

 

[azusa]

Screen inside the reservoir clogs up, it can cause the issues you're experiencing.

 

[alia176]

Screen inside the reservoir clogs up, it can cause the issues you're experiencing.

crap, i never knew that!

 

[84T4R]

I had a similar issue and resolved it by following the bleeding procedure in the factory service manual. Did you raise the front wheels off the ground in your bleed procedure?

I did. Air was coming out, so I was hopeful. Not really seeing bubbles anymore.

 

[84T4R]

Just keep driving and it may sort itself out!!

That's what I'm hoping. Been daily driving it this week and no resolve just yet.

 

[84T4R]

Screen inside the reservoir clogs up, it can cause the issues you're experiencing.

I haven't seen a screen. Where exactly is that suppose to be?

 

[84T4R]

Air in the ps fluid is the low hanging fruit .

Are you still seeing bubbles in the reservoir after driving it?

I agree with above, it can take some time for all the air to work out of the system.

Start with jacking the front up, and turning the wheels left to right, first no engine running then with engine running, then drive it, let it sit, drive it, repeat.

If you've done all that, and there's no bubbles/ foam in the reservior, then you may need to look to other things.

I had trunnion bearings break down in one of my cruisers. Could definitely feel resistance as the bad bearings bound up near full lock.

Yeah I've been driving it for about 6 days, and still no resolve, so I'm about to rule out air. I'm going to jack it up one last time and see. My hoses were as hard as a rock, so I'm thinking the P>S pump needs a rebuild as I'm guessing the O-rings are going to be hard as well. Just weird that it worked fine before the maintenance.

 

[azusa]

It's inside the reservoir, remove the reservoir and back flush it with a degreaser and hot water, you could even put your garden hose to back flush it. There's quite a few people that will undo the crimp right in the middle of the reservoir, and then they remove the plastic screen. I've had success with back flushing, probably don't get it as clean as taking it all apart. I'm assuming you have a factory cooler / paperclip. If it's aftermarket cooler, I use a air bleeding tool to get there out, OEM tools 27311.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Yeah I've been driving it for about 6 days, and still no resolve, so I'm about to rule out air. I'm going to jack it up one last time and see. My hoses were as hard as a rock, so I'm thinking the P>S pump needs a rebuild as I'm guessing the O-rings are going to be hard as well. Just weird that it worked fine before the maintenance.

How many miles on the vehicle?

I've had a couple apart at around 160ish k miles coz they were weeping. Vanes and pump body were both in great condition in mine.
The leaks mine had would have had zero impact on the pumping capacity, they were just making a mess.

Rebuild kits are cheap though, and it's not a huge job. Do some reading first, there is a couple of tricks and pitfalls.
Kits don't include the o-ring between the pump and the timing case.

Cleaning the reservoir screen is a good tip. Close to zero dollars to do that.

Hard hoses won't impact performance, but could potentially allow air to be sucked in to the system if they are split or aren't sealing on a spigot.

Disconnecting and reconnecting hard rubber hoses often leads to a leak. You break the original seal, and the hardened hose is no longer compliant enough to re-seal

 

[84T4R]

How many miles on the vehicle?

I've had a couple apart at around 160ish k miles coz they were weeping. Vanes and pump body were both in great condition in mine.
The leaks mine had would have had zero impact on the pumping capacity, they were just making a mess.

Rebuild kits are cheap though, and it's not a huge job. Do some reading first, there is a couple of tricks and pitfalls.
Kits don't include the o-ring between the pump and the timing case.

Cleaning the reservoir screen is a good tip. Close to zero dollars to do that.

Hard hoses won't impact performance, but could potentially allow air to be sucked in to the system if they are split or aren't sealing on a spigot.

Disconnecting and reconnecting hard rubber hoses often leads to a leak. You break the original seal, and the hardened hose is no longer compliant enough to re-seal

135,000 miles. There is one hose I couldn't get to that still has an old hose on it. I'm going to backflush and get that darn hose replaced, and see what happens. Praying that helps.

 

[alia176]

How many miles on the vehicle?

I've had a couple apart at around 160ish k miles coz they were weeping. Vanes and pump body were both in great condition in mine.
The leaks mine had would have had zero impact on the pumping capacity, they were just making a mess.

Rebuild kits are cheap though, and it's not a huge job. Do some reading first, there is a couple of tricks and pitfalls.
Kits don't include the o-ring between the pump and the timing case.

Cleaning the reservoir screen is a good tip. Close to zero dollars to do that.

Hard hoses won't impact performance, but could potentially allow air to be sucked in to the system if they are split or aren't sealing on a spigot.

Disconnecting and reconnecting hard rubber hoses often leads to a leak. You break the original seal, and the hardened hose is no longer compliant enough to re-seal

what got me is that the PS worked fine when he acquired the 80, and now its having issues.

 

[84T4R]

It's inside the reservoir, remove the reservoir and back flush it with a degreaser and hot water, you could even put your garden hose to back flush it. There's quite a few people that will undo the crimp right in the middle of the reservoir, and then they remove the plastic screen. I've had success with back flushing, probably don't get it as clean as taking it all apart. I'm assuming you have a factory cooler / paperclip. If it's aftermarket cooler, I use a air bleeding tool to get there out, OEM tools 27311.

This is great, thank you for the heads up. I have an ultrasonic cleaner, I'll dump it in there and see what happens. This feels on track for a fix as the hard steering is intermittent like its not getting enough fluid when moving from one direction to the other. Really not wanting to rebuild the pump unless absolutely necessary.

 

[84T4R]

what got me is that the PS worked fine when he acquired the 80, and now its having issues.

Yeah that's what has me feeling weird as well. I thought maybe the previous owner had P.S fluid in and it had a bad reaction with the ATF fluid I put in, but who knows...

 

[tbasch1]

I was thinking Could The PO have used a stop-leak additive in the system that allowed the seals to sweal to slow the previous leak and now that you've flushed it out the seals shrank again causing your problems like maybe allowing air to seep in from those seals somewhere?

 

[84T4R]

I was thinking Could The PO have used a stop-leak additive in the system that allowed the seals to sweal to slow the previous leak and now that you've flushed it out the seals shrank again causing your problems like maybe allowing air to seep in from those seals somewhere?

That might be a possibility. I didn't see any signs of stop leak when I drained the original fluid, but that could definitely see this being a possibility.

 

[bigredmachine]

hows your belt tension, if the p/s belt is slipping a bit it could give hard steering at low speeds when theres high demand on the ps pump with low rpms