Should someone with little wrenching experience attempt to replace their own PS pump?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

D

d'oh

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Aug 5, 2005
Threads
22
Messages
79
I've posted a few questions on here and you guys have been great. I have been having trouble with my PS pump screeching on startup, and on turns till it gets warm. I took it to a local shop months ago. They said it need to be replaced and quoted me the OEM price. I balked. I found a used one for $50 on ebay,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=8051122912&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT

which I bought, thinking that swapping the "new" one out for the busted one would not be that bad, and would be a band-aid until I could get the money together for a new one. Then I found this thread,

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=80534&highlight=replace+pump

and am doubting that it is a good idea to try this myself (I don't have any friends that work on their own rides who could supervise).

So, I guess I'm looking at three options: (1) flush out the old pump, refill with ATF (not sure what's been in there, only had truck for less than a year, though I put in some stop leak PS fluid) and see if mechanic's assessment was correct (under option 1, I will have a used PS pump for sale....); (2) block out a full day from the weekend, get the FSM out, and be prepared to make several trips to the parts store (my tool setup is very limited) or (3) take the ebay pump to the local mechanic and get him to fool with replacing, probably costing me around $150 (guess) but saving my weekend for other chores (we just moved and the to-do list is a mile long).

Frankly, I'm leaning 3, but if you guys apply some peer pressure and specific advice I might change my mind. . .
 
It is not bad.. just don't pull the mounting bracket off of hte block..


go slowly and you will be fine.

It will make a mess tho ;)
 
i second mace. you dont need to pull the bracket off the block.
see my posts about my debacle. make sure your e-bay finds an OEM.
you'll see why if you read my post.
right material, even a first timer could do it in a few hours.
and alot is the bleeding of the system.
 
If you end up going with option 1, you may want to use synthetic atf. 2 qt = $15

1. Go to Home Depot on a get clear plastic tubing(small enough to fit in opening. Siphon out old fluid.

2. Disconnect return line. Plug inlet, I used a piece of plastic bag and rubber band.

3. I had a length on metal tubing that I clamped on the return line so I could redirect the fluid into a clear bottle(pine-sol). Situate so that it is not near belts or other moving parts and that it will not move when engine starts.

4. Fill pump with new fluid.

5. Start engine and quickly turnoff(2-5 secs). Check fluid level!!!

Refill fluid!!!

It does not take much time to pump a lot of fluid into pine-sol container. Look at fluid. Repeat until red stuff is being pumped in container.

This will not fix a leak pump, but it may extend the life of marginal pump.
 
As others have said, replacing the pump is not difficult.

While you're at it, consider replacing the 'soft' lines: steering box to cooler tube, cooler tube to pump resivour.
Gates (no not Microsoft Bill) make a high pressure hose,,,,about $40 (OEM is like $130)

After install, do not set belt. turn pump by hand to slowly flush the big air bubbles & cruddy old stuff. yea, takes longer than to 2 sec mentioned above, but imagine the mess of a pint or so of slippery stuff blowing out a flexi tube in 2 sec...
After 'hand' flush, hook up and run for seconds at a time & check fluid level....

Maybe 2 hours total time start to done...BTDT
 
maybe after refill the pump you get some " air " in the system .. purge it it's easy, without the PS cap, turn your tires ( raise both if you can ) right to left and vicerversa sometimes .. and you will be fine .. until the noise disapeer.
 
excellent, thanks to you all. this is great. I'll wait till the pump gets here and then post up to make sure it's OEM; if it is I'll take a shot at replacing it and take some pictures (for the humor quotient, if nothing else).
 
Option number 4...
Keep running with the PS pump you have now, at least for awhile. Do the work around the new house first (family first, cruiser second - like money in the bank). Current one works, just is loud at first. Turn up the radio. Sometimes putting a tablespoon of downey fabric softener into the PS pump can make it a bit quieter. This is not BS, got the info from a reputable Toyota parts guy (who does it to his own cruiser).
 
I like option 4, and that's the tack I've taken for the last few months. The only hitch, aside from waking everyone up when I leave for work in the morning :) , is that it's blowing fluid all around the PS pump. I don't have the smog pump people worry about seizing up, but it just seems like at some point I should probably stop coating everything.

Maybe I'll flush it and replace fluid as a practice run, and reassess while I wait on the ebay pump to get here.
 
Thanks to Allah, the 40, 55, and 60 series cruisers were designed to be simple to service.

If you have a shady place to work, a manual, and some tools, you can do a lot of the tasks by reading the FSM carefully, trouble shooting, assembling the correct parts and doing it.

M
 
Mine was like that when I got it, it had seen a few mechanics, I loosened the belt a little as it was starting to sound real bad like it might cease, and since then it hardly groans and doesnt leak any more :)

Under some hard going it will occasionaly slip, but other than that it's fine now.

They just like to be treated gentle in their old age :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom