I lost a hose in the driver side front wheel well this morning while pulling RV to a campground. By the time I got there and got the RV disconnected, I lost all power steering. I reconnected the hose using a zip tie and have a friend bringing me fluid to refill reservoir.

Is my pump toast now?

Can I refill the reservoir and prime the lines and be good to go?

Any advice is appreciated. Will post a pic of the zip tied line in a few minutes.

Thanks

 

When replacing the lines on the power steering system, use Ford lines. I found out that aftermarket lines can carry a whine in those lines and make it sound like the pump is bad. Ford lines have something in them that cancels that whine out. I know, it sounds strange, but that has been my experience.

 

Return??? I don't think a zip would hold the pressure side...Could be wrong though.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

It will prime itself. In a pinch, you could have taken the return line off the tranny and robbed some fluid from there. Tranny has lots extra to dissipate heat, so if your load isn't too much the tranny won't mind until you get more. I would then flush that out when home since the tranny fluid can get dirty if not changed regularly.

 

Send a pic for educational purposes.

Zip tie won't hold it on the Pressure size. Those suckers put out some serious PSI.

Check out the video in this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...reaks-out.html

You can see some typical pressures in on of those during the pump testing.

What side of which hose blew off?

 

Update, you guys are spot on. The loose line was the vacuum line for the esof hubs. I guess it coincidentally came loose also. Upon further investigation it looks like maybe there was a slow leak where the hard line that comes off of the reservoir connects to the soft rubber line underneath the intercooler pipe. When my buddy gets here I will put new fluid in, and try to prime it and look for a leak.

Thanks for the help so far, and sorry for the misleading info in the first post.

 

I had to change an alternator in Ocala Florida on the way to Disney 2 weeks ago.

 

Hahaha. That reminds me of that commercial for Kayak, the travel site. The one with the people in the elevator, and the repair guy plugging Kayak and the people say " And what does this have to do with our problem" Hahahahaha!

 

Just to make sure you caught it from CampSpringsJohn, the fluid our trucks take for the power steering pump is Mercon V or equitant Auto Trans fluid. Also no priming is necessary. The air will work its way back to the reservoir with several lock to lock turns of the wheels.

 

Pump the brakes a few times too!

 

Sometimes the power steering hose will rub against the shock tower, eventually wearing through. Mine was about half gone when I caught it. A hunk of split heater hose slid over the new line will protect it nicely.

 

That's what happened to mine. I put a piece of hose on the new one!

 

Gents, the hose coming off the pump to the hydroboost was the culprit. I got a replacement hose tonight, will replace it tomorrow.

So I don't need to worry about the air building up in the system? Just fill it, prime it, refill it, and go? I was thinking I should add a little at a time and make sure the bubbles have a chance to settle before I added a little more.

 

The bubbles will settle out if you cycle it. Time will help in the PS Res, but the hydroboost is above the pump and will collect air from the lines. It will eventually all work out, just check the level regularly until it's settled down. I accidentally ran my out when I did my flush and it foamed like a mad dog at the res. They all worked out in less than a day.