Location: Victoria, BC. Canada
(108.180.117.65) | Chiming...
I'm reluctant to offer any advice because I haven't totally sorted out my steering pump issue either.
Rico, be sure and jack up the front wheels off the ground; it makes things much easier as you're spending 'hours' cranking the steering rack back and forth (from stop to stop) cussing like a trucker as you try to get the air out of it. I believe all that is covered in the Service manual, even the 'cussing' part. Okay, it don't take 'hours' but it does take persistence and attention to get it right. I replaced a blown forward (4-ft ?) pressure hose in mine and had a hell of a time getting the air out of it. Seemed no matter what I did after topping up the reservoir it would continue spewing out this bubbly concoction all over the place as I cranked it back and forth and the power assist would remain intermittent at best. After several emails whining to Billy and Stephen, I (we) finally arrived at the idea that some SUCTION might be the trick.
This is what I did: I discovered that a PO had replaced the factory steering pump cap with a simple auto fuel gas-cap (simple old school Chevy IIRC) so I went to my local parts guy and he sold me a duplicate for about $5-bucks. I took that home and drilled a hole in it to receive a small 1/4" dia tube from my oil extractor. The trick with this is to make certain you get a decent seal between the cap and the plastic hose or it won't hold vacuum. You don't need much, only a few PSI.
Once you're ready to go, top up the pump reservoir then hook up your suction pump contraption and pump it up till you're certain you've got some 'suck' action going on. Get behind the wheel and fire it up. If you're unsure how well the suction thing is working, you might employ a helper to pump it as you're cranking the wheel back and forth. When I did mine, within a minute or less it was like my steering-lines let go a mighty 'fart' and I suddenly had smooth, consistent power assist through the entire rack travel in both directions.
What I need to figure out now is how to deal with fluid that I have still spewing out of the cap. I'm finding I still have to top it up every 100 miles or less. If you look at the Parts Manual (see: Steering) Pg. 7-9 Fig. 7-5, you'll notice the hose set up off the top of the pump that connects to an overhead reservoir. Me thinks this might be all you would need to catch and contain the overflow and then feed it back to the pump once the bubbles are gone. Billy suggested this originally when he was trying to help me sort this out. I have to assume he's seen this diagram also.
Hope this helps and if anyone else can expand on dealing with this issue, please chime in.
Terry
#846 |
Power Steering Part Number ??
