Hey guys. I have a small issue that i need some advice sorting out. I had my engine rebuilt recently so everything was out of the motor. Never really had a chance to mess with working out the kinks that would come up and ended up getting it tuned. Drove the car home and the whole ride home, the car felt like it had absolutely zero power steering. As soon as i got home i popped the hood and power steering fluid was gushing out of the reservoir.

I read about bleeding the system and what i have done was jacked up the front end, cranked the engine over while turning the wheels side to side and checked servicing. Serviced the reservoir to the required level and turned the steering wheel some more. With just power applied the wheels turn effortlessly. even with the car off i have zero issues. As soon as i put the car on the ground i get like zero power steering.

I have checked all the lines from the pump to the reservoir to the steering column and i don't see any leaks or cuts or tears. There is no noises coming from the power steering. i am running forward facing and deleted the AC so i got the dayco belt part number to run the AC delete. I can't think of any other areas to look at before just replacing the pump all together. Anyone run into this issue or have some insight. Please let me know. Thanks.

 

You have air in your power steering system. This is funny heres how you fix it. Let the car cool off completely so its cold. Start car turn steering wheel all the way to one side then the other after every 2 times check the reservoir continue this until the resivoir is full with no bubbles keep adding little as it bleeds air out. This is in the FSM btw. Happens sometimes when the cars sit awhile getting new engines etc.

 

I will try this tomorrow thanks.

 

yes try to bleed it first, but if that does not work, you might have a tear/gash on the line that goes to the rack and pinion, instead of pushing fluid in the rack to turn to the desired side, it might be gushing out. let us know!

 

Also check all the connections on the suction side of the pump. Any leak will suck in air.

 

Suction side of the pump? What exactly are you referring to. You have the two lines that connect on top.

 

the proper way the bleed a power steering system is with a vacuum pump. i posted a link to how to do it. the vacuum pump starts at a little after 1 min. they say you should start your vehicle and turn the wheel a bunch of times but even doing this can cause damage to the veins in the pump. you should always vacuum bleed it then check the fluid and repeat until its full. then test it. it will also tell you if its sucking air because it will not hold vacuum. hope this helps you.

 

The line from the reservoir to the pump.

 

Wow EVOIX315 did you watch your video? So your saying turning the wheel will damage something haha funny click the video above first thing the guy says is to turn the wheel 10-15 times. The air in the system on the otherhand is a cause for concern. If you follow the Proper instructions you will not damage anything. VACUUM PUMP IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THIS.
http://www.club3g.com/forum/maintena...ing-fluid.html

 

ok so....i tried the very first suggestion and nothing. So what i did was turn the motor on and cycled the steering wheel side to side and checked the fluid level. It did not move at all. I could not see any bubbles at all. I went a step further and removed the filter in the middle and then i could see the bubbles coming through the fluid. Every time i cycled the steering wheel i would get more and more bubbles.

My only concern is i know through the manual its supposed to reach a certain temperature but in my car the fluid never got past maybe room temperature. It was pretty cool to the touch. The pump was hot just like every other component but the fluid and the lines running from the reservoir were cool to the touch.

I believe that i am not getting suction or whatever. If you place your hand over where the cap goes, are you supposed to feel some kind of suction? I am getting nothing. Am i just supposed to keep cycling it some more? I am lost now. Maybe i should just do a complete drain and flush and see if that works.

 

Also i let the engine get to operating temperatures and looked for leaks and found absolutely none. The reservoir is not decreasing at all so i know I'm not leaking fluid anywhere.

 

If no fluid is passing through the pump it is very soon toast. I'm referring to your drive home with no power steering.

 

Your not supposed to start the car until the very last read the fluid swap tutorial and you will understand.

 

Ok so new update. I tried the method that 3gturbo suggested. Nothing was happening at all. No fluid was coming out of the return line what so ever. Found that pretty strange. Figured that would of been a sure proof idea. Well it got me to thinking...maybe the pump is not building pressure in order to cycle the fluid through. I removed the pressure line from the pump expecting a messy clean up and there was absolutely no fluid coming out of the line. Thought that was strange so i had someone quickly crank the motor over and placed my finger over the top of pump and there was no suction. I then added just a little fluid inside the hole and tried again and behold there was pressure.

I started to do the method again and fluid was in fact coming out but then abruptly stopped. cycled everything back and forth for a while and fluid was like gurgling out of reservoir. thought i was in a better position then yesterday but fluid didn't really change at all. I placed my palm over the reservoir and noticed that air is being pushed up and out of the reservoir.

I took off the pressure line again and low and behold no fluid again in the line. No suction coming from the pump. I then noticed the o'ring on the pressure line broke in half. So now i am down to 2 ideas. first one is either that o'ring is not creating a perfect seal on the pump and not creating suction or second the pressure relief valve inside the pump is not working. Any ideas where i can get the o'ring from? to test my theory. I am getting fed up with this stupid power steering issue.

 

The pump is sucking air it sounds like. Start with a new oring.