Hello! New member, first truck, first diesel. 96 7.3 f250, 212k miles.

I Lost power steering and brakes today. I was stopping and going fine up the off ramp. As the last car pulls away, I go to turn and brake to check for oncoming traffic, and the steering wheel and brakes take 3 times the effort to move.

Cap on the steering pump was popped loose, and had splattered some fluid I found when I pulled in to work. Dirty brown, almost thought it was oil. Fluid still full though.

From researching it sounds like the pump went? Or a block some where? Any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

doubt it is the pump now.

The pully on the fan is skewed, and looks to be detatched. The belt is also off said pully and torn a bit.

Must I remove the radiator, or can I work around it?

 

All I can say is on my '00 F-250 7.3L diesel I was able to do a water pump change with radiator still in place, which required fan and everything like that to be removed.

 

Yes, you can pull the waterpump without removing the radiator, but you have to remove the fan shroud and the pump/fan assembly all at the same time. Remove all the waterpump hoses, then the bolts attaching the pump to the engine, then lift the pump/fan up and out while raising the fan shroud. I'd suggest putting a heavy piece of cardboard between the radiator core & fan so you don't damage any of the radiator fins if you bump it with the fan.

You'll need a thin 1-7/8" wrench to loosen the fan clutch from the waterpump shaft, it just threads on, think it's normal right hand threads. And keep track of which waterpump bolts go in which holes. There's two different lengths. Sounds like the four bolts holding your pulley on the waterpump/fan shaft came out or broke off.

 

Thanks guys. The pump was replaced one month ago just before I bought the truck, and I did a coolant flush ala gooch.

like you said, its looking like the bolts came out, or broke. We'll see.

 

Bolts broke, tore up the pulley. Ended up with a new pulley and belt. WP was fine. Lesson learned: double check any work the PO did themselves.

Thank you for the input every one.