Hi guys!

I just had a series of unfortunate events that I thought I'd fixed cleanly ... but apparently not.

AC compressor clutch bearings went bad (went AWAY, actually) and the serp. belt snapped. New clutch went on just fine and works great, but after about 20 miles the power steering pump pulley cracked and started spinning on the shaft and the new serp belt jumped half off and ate itself.

So last night I finished putting in a new pump and pulley. Flushed out the lines with new fluid, manually bled the new pump and then followed the bleeding procedure in Haynes carefully. All looks good. Pump spins freely and runs very quiet. No noise or hesitation lock-to-lock. No leaks. Fluid level holds steady right at the half-way mark on the reservoir.

Sitting in my yard it turns smooth and very easy all the way through the whole range.

BUT, out on the street I'm getting very frequent but random lock-up where the wheel doesn't want to turn AT ALL (I'm a big guy and it's HARD to turn)! And then I'll jiggle it a bit and it's smooth as silk again. It's done it while moving fast, moving slow, and standing still. I drove about 30 miles testing it out and it seems completely random when it will lock up, but it did it about six times in half an hour. And when I got home and parked? Perfect, smooth steering.

Any thoughts on what could be doing this? Prior to the troubles last week, steering was perfect, so I don't think the steering box is bad. (Could be, of course...)

Help? Thanks!

 

Just WAG's here...............

Could the new P/S pump still have an air bubble in it? The sudden and frequent loss of power assist and subsequent high input effort suggests pressure is fluctating.

The steering box may be temporarily affected by a chunk of debris still circulating, something left over from the old pump? Since you've drained and flushed the fluid this seems unlikely yet again.............

Could the belt be slipping on the P/S pump pulley? Does the high effort present itself when sitting still but revving the engine close to street speed limit RPM's? Possibly a bad new or reman'd P/S pump too.

Are you steering shaft u-joints in good working order, not binding up? If they're the greaseable type I'll look there too.

Remember just WAG's----only had something similar happen to me, 1976 GM step van, the u-joint would bind during turns but not every time.

 

Thanks for the thoughts! I have a really fond hope that it's just a last stubborn air bubble that is going to work itself out, but not a lot of hope in that.

I would suspect the steering box itself, or the shaft's joints, if it wasn't that steering has always been perfect up to this point.

A piece of debris floating in the fluid is a frustrating possibility. Not even sure how I'd get that out, if flushing it out before didn't remove it.

Returning the new pump for a new new pump seems like the "easy" fix, but of course that's not a guarantee.

Sigh. But thanks for helping me think through it all.

 

Sometimes those WAG's from outta left field spark an idea----hope its not too serious, nothing more than that stubborn air bubble!

Let us know what you eventually find----could be helpful down the road to others.

 

Oh, will do!