Power Steering Pressure Relief valve?

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concretejungle

concretejungle

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Does the 80 power steering system even have one? I have been having a lot of groaning issues with my power steering for over a year. Tried replacing the fluid, adding some downey fabric softner. Hasn't worked.

Today i was dropping a friend off at the mechanic that i use when i cant fix the issue to pick up his tacoma that got a new steering rack. Anyways, we were talking out in the parking lot and i asked him to listen to my power steering. He did and said that it sounded/felt like a pressure relief valve was sticking. He said that when that happens, the fluid will heat up and often boil our spurt out the top of the resevoir (which i do have fluid coming out of the res. even with a new oem cap). So he said before i go replacing pumps to find out where the pressure relief valve is.

So is it in the power steering pump itself, or is it external somewhere? I'm at work so i don't have the FSM with me to look. Does the 80 even have this valve?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Concrete: (thanks for the lift)
FSM shows a pressure flow valve inside the pump, dont know its operation though or if its the same the mechanic was talkin about....

anyone know if this piece is also known as a pressure regulator; or is that a separate part of the system???or a part not utilized in the 80's power steering?
 
It's located under the banjo fitting and union on the high pressure side. You undo the banjo, unscrew the union, then lift out the pressure valve and spring. There is an unsprung length spec for the spring in the manual which I don't remember--that may too be part of the equation if in fact that groan has to do with this PRV.

It shoud be easy to access without pulling the PS pump.
 
Isn't the cap also a sort of presure relief valve? I thought fluid was supposed to spurt out the cap if it overheats.
 
May be it's more of a pressure regulator than a pressure relief valve... The cap does look quite like a radiator cap.
 
I know after driving switchbacks that the cap likes to puke fluid.
 
If you're running bigger tires and it pukes oil, you can't say it's not normal. If you're puking oil on stock tires, then you have a problem.

Concrete, I'd say add a small fluid cooler parallel with the low pressure side of the pump and see what happens. Worst case you spent $40 for longer fluid life.
 
there is a difference between running switchbacks at speed and turning clock to clock on tight wheeling trails. i can see the system overworked and overheating on trail runs and rock crawls, but on switchbacks like up a mountain, even with larger tires, the system should not puke fluid.

mine pukes fluid even if it is just sitting there. I can wipe the top of the res. clean and then drive to the gas station and back (1 mile total) and the top will have fluid on it again.
 
Alex, yes there is a pressure relief valve inside the pump. Long story, but essentially I was running WOT for about 15 mins in reverse sawing the wheels back and forth and mine stuck open which equated to no power steering. Oddly enough, bouncing off the rev limiter free'd it back up again. If I bump into the rev-limiter it will occasionally stick again, but all I have to do is hit the rev-limited once more and it unsticks. Don't think it's a good thing, but that's my story with the pressure relief valve and how I know that it does indeed exist.
 
Thanks for the info Arya. BTW, are you coming to cullowhee in two weekends? Big group this time.

Back on topic....so this valve does exist. Do you think this valve sticking or not fuctioning properly would help cause all the power steering problems i'm having? If it's sticking, my fluid is super-heating and causing it to boil out and also causing my groan/vibration in the steering wheel when turning into a driveway for instance. Is this valve/spring servicable?
 
concretejungle said:
i'm just running 33's bro.




.......for now :)
Click to expand...


No matter, it doesn't hurt anything by adding a cooler.

concretejungle said:
Thanks for the info Arya. BTW, are you coming to cullowhee in two weekends? Big group this time.

Back on topic....so this valve does exist. Do you think this valve sticking or not fuctioning properly would help cause all the power steering problems i'm having? If it's sticking, my fluid is super-heating and causing it to boil out and also causing my groan/vibration in the steering wheel when turning into a driveway for instance. Is this valve/spring servicable?
Click to expand...

It is servicable according to my '92 FSM, and if your bubbling out the cap, it sounds like this is the issue. Fix it, and get an oil cooler :flipoff2:
 
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