ok last week my neighbor found the power steering pressure line under the rubber hold down started leaking, well that is a normal thing, however we tried inserting a rubber hose but he got a hose to low in burst rating and it burst. before he started it he mistakenly put brake fluid in the pump but the line blew before he had a chance to turn the wheel.

well i replaced the line today after letting the pump and rack drain for a few days and filled the pump started it and the pump did whine a bit until it had a chance to purge out the air with me pegging the wheels lock to lock a few times.

he just sent me a note saying it felt like the power steering was cutting out now and then. i told him he may need to drive it a bit to finish purging out the air, if it still has air in it. there could be a bit of air as the pressure line was off the rack for a few days waiting on the parts.

i do not think the small amount of brake fluid that may have go onto the system is going to cause that, he may have put half a cup in it. but i'm asking just in case it will and he may have to drain the return line to purge out the fluid and put more new into it. the only other thing i can think of is the pump just may be getting ready to fail. but it is not whining

so what do you guys think? thanks bp.

 

Should be ok with what you say was added. I'd recommend with PS fluid in it, either jack the front end up, with regular level of fluid in the reseviour turn the steering wheel back and forth as to work the air out of it.

 

thanks i kind of figured that as it has to work out the air but he want me to get more ideas just in case. tomorrow i told him to jack up the front and with it idleing turn lock to lock about 5 or 10 times and keep checking the fluid level to work out the air. now i can send this to him so he know i told him what he has to do was a good proceidure. i did tell him it may still have air in the system. thanks a bunch for the help.bp.

 

ok update. he took the truck out this morning, he has not yet done the bleed procedure, but he told me this. It was funny this morning I went out toward the mall. it sounds like it appeared to be working But then I went to menards it was working till and halfway home it was working but then he got off on laketon then it was hard to turn

so is sounds to me it worked when he left to go to the store and almost home it stopped working. that was about a 10 mile round trip. so can having air in the system cause this? i have not had this issue with power steering before, it either worked or it did not work. there is not noise from the pump.and the fluid is up. to the top marks.
thanks bp.

 

Check the fluid level. I would think after a 10 mile drive the air should be worked out of it.

 

ok this is what is was! when i had the system open either i got a spec of dirt or the brake fluid washed some dirt off the innards and the pressure relief valve get stuck open. i had him tap on the pressure relief section and i turned the wheel and just as soon as he tapped that area the wheel started turning with one finger and he saw the milky oil develope as the system was now able to build pressure. and we could then hear it labor at the lodk position. he is going to take a test drive now and let me know if it returns or not. if it is good he is all set if it returns then i think we may be in for a system flush. but if it was a bit of dirt that will settle out on the reservoir and not bother him again.

thanks for the ideas and help.

 

ok the issue returned. so i'm thinking the brake fluid may be reacting with the power steering fluid and washing off particles in the system. so does anyone know it i might be able to put a filter on the return line to filter this out? what we will do is flush out the system as soon as i figure out how to do that and put fresh power steering fluid in it but in the meantime if i can get the oil filtered as it returns becot the the tank like on machines then i may be able to stop the pressure valve from sticking open. or o may have to take off the pump and take it apart and check that valve for debris. any ideas? thanks

 

I had an 02 Ford Taurus that had this issue. Wasn't from wrong fluid, brake fluid isn't going to have a separation of particles that could stop an orfice, even so, it would be so small. If you want, bleed the system, refill with PS fluid, and flush 2-3 times. My Tarurus fluid was kahki brown with the same symptoms, that is what I did to correct it.

 

we are going to try that tomorrow and if it comes back i will have him get a filter and put that on. also one thing i may do is take out the pressure valve and make sure it is not binding or has any junk in it. if i cant get it back in i will just take off the pump and reinstall it. today he did the lock to lock about 20 times or more and it still had the issue and i had him tap on the relief valve and it when away like now i could turn it with my finger. so it may have some junk that got into it during the line install. i tired to keep the junk out by taping the ends during the instal but you never know. and it may have bound up the pressure valve when i tighten it up being it turned out to be made in china. the rack end mount had the hold down hole on the wrong side and i had to redrill that out. so the pump side may have been a bit long and put a bit of pressure on the pressure valve and hold int up some. so tomorrow we are going to take that off and double check that by comparing it to the old one. i did not check that as the part number was the same number gm uses so i figured it should be good to go. maybe not? thanks may just be old dirty oil maybe not. bp.

 

ok update. today i took the pump off and cleaned the tank and flushed some thru the pump and then blew out the unit. we then put new fluid in the pump and flushed new fluid thru the system for about 2 quarts of fluid. it did not work so it must have a bad pump. he is going to drive it a bit to see if it has air in it yet. i may set up a vacuum and try to vacuum the system to see if i can get the air out of it. it seemed to have a bunch of air and in doing the purge it just did not go away.
thanks bp