hey guys, i was driving and i lost power steering for no reason. Dupmed all the fluit out and nearly impossible to turn. Can I drive 30 miles to home? Will it harm anything else? Im pretty sure the pump went but I dont know. Im posting from phone so sorry for the grammar. Any help, answers, suggestions would be great!

 

Hey guys I just got home (just barely) and I'm wondering if this is a normal problem. Is it normal for a power steering pump to go on these trucks or is it most likely a line that is leaking? System is completely drained, no fluid left at all in the system so its not like a line is leaking or something. The system put all the fluid on the ground within about a minute. I'm gonna have to do some trouble shooting once I get her in the shop. I'm currently working on changing the stripped gears on polaris 600 twin, so the truck will have to wait until I make some space BTW: How is the work on the power steering, is it a pain or a in and out job?

 

If you have a V belt system can you remove just the power steering pump drive belt? If so you can drive home no problem.
If you have to keep the drive belt on (maybe it`s a serp belt) then I would stop maybe a couple of times and add some fluid to the pump just to keep it lubed.
That is what I would do anyway.
Good man, I see you made it.

 

Thanks, yeah I have a serpentine belt so I couldn't disconnect any belts. The system dumped all fluid in less than a minute so I would be wasting money on fluid if I refilled it only to dump out within a minute. I'm pretty sure that the pump is toast (looks a million years old) anyway but I'm not sure-I'll have to check it out.

 

Have you looked at the hoses? Easiest way to track down the leak would be to have a drain pan under the power steering setup and put maybe half a liter in the system while the truck is running. Chances are that will allow you to trace down the leak.

Some one else recently had a leak at the pump shaft. Worst I ever had was the low pressure hose rotting out on me causing a steady drip.

 

Bubblegum recently had a massive leak out the pitman arm shaft of the steering box, she was pulling over like every hour or so and adding fluid then when she arrived and we let the truck sit overnight the seal completely let loose and next morning it was pissing the fluid out there faster than we could dump it in the pump just so we could move the truck into the garage. The entire underside of the steering box was nasty, and there was fluid all the down on the tie rod ends.

The week before that I replaced my own steering box, as that one was leaking out the input shaft seal (not a very common failure I think, but with hydroboost even a small leak should not be left unattended).

A return line or hose that is broken or cut will drain the pump down in no time, as the return port is at the very bottom of the tank itself (and even if it was on top of the reservoir the thing would still pump itself dry pretty quick). If it was the pressure line that let go you would know right away as there would be fluid sprayed all over the engine bay!

 

I looked at hoses, everything and everything is wet. I'll have to put fluid in and wipe everything and try to find the leak then. I got to make room though cause quad is in the way.

Engine looks clean, but the fluid is all over everything in front/below engine. There is no fluid leakage at all looking from the engine compartment. In other words-you wouldn't be able to tell there was a leak if you just looked from the engine compartment, even if you looked around the PS pump and tried to find it. Only thing is the cap to the PS had popped loose as well if that helps trigger any thoughts. I guess pressure built up and cap popped off. It was alot of pressure too cause it popped over the way it locks in (if that makes sense?).

 

Look for where the leak is, that will tell you a lot more then just guessing the pump is gone (but if it all leaked out, you might have fried the pump driving it home).

Mine had a steady leak from the sector shaft seal (where the pitman arm attaches at the bottom of the steering gear). I rebuilt it myself last year right before christmas, but in the process of driving the new seal in, I put a score in it. Few days later (last minute shopping the afternoon of christmas eve), I had it at full lock trying to navigate a parking lot while waiting for an idiot to get out of the way. Long story short, the pressure split the seal where it cracked, popped the seal out of place, and drained the fluid in a matter of seconds...
A new seal installed more carefully fixed it. Judging from what you said, something blew out, and should be easy enough to trace if you look for the fluid.

Just saw that you wrote more as I was typing this... Did you look from the bottom up? or just from the top down? I've had the pop top off the pump when manually steering while the engine is off, but it causes fluid to squirt out which would show up. Whatever blew for you has to be lower down if its not all over the top.

 

It blew something and like I said, the steering was there (I was navigating streets in a town) and the next turn it was hard and when I got out is was all over and forming a puddle.

 

I looked at the top of the pump and its dry, only below is it wet.

 

Follow the hoses, are they wet? Any visible issues with the hoses? Then check the cooler, its on the return side mounted to the engine crossmember in a loop. Lastly look at the steering gear it self.

However, if everything is a giant wet mess, and you can't see an obvious leak, clean everything up, put a little fluid in, and briefly start it up to see where its coming from.

 

Yeah thats what I'm gonna have to do, everything under the truck ahead of the engine is wet. I post results once I find leak.
thanks guys

 

Your cooler may have rusted through, it's just a steel line after all, it's prone to rust like any other steel line in the truck. But I agree with tecgod13, if the top of the engine is clean then whatever popped was on the bottom side of the pump - I'm thinking the sector shaft seal at this point, as while return line and cooler loop also can cause leaks they are usually more of a drip which would take quite a while to empty your pump.

 

Hey guys I found the leak, it was between the steering gear box (or whatever its called) and pitman arm. Is there some kind of seal between the those two? Please don't tell me I have to pull the steering gear box?! Is there most likely a problem with a seal or one of the major components? I'm gonna start taking apart now so any do's and don't would be nice. I'll probably just pull the pitman arm off the gear box and take a look at it. I drove 30 miles home with no fluid, am I better off replacing the PS pump or is there a chance its still good?

Also, I got a video, you can see exactly where and how fast it sent it out.

YouTube - 1992 f250 power steering leak, diesel.

 

nasty...................

Looks like what happened to bubblegum's truck. I think you can repair that with the steering box installed but since LCAM-01XA just had to deal with this, I'll let him tell you for sure.

You will need a pitman arm puller at the very least though. That thing will not come off without it.