First of all, I have been reading this forum for a few years, and I appreciate all the help everyone has given. I have used this forum to repair many problems that I have had on the last three trucks. This is the first time I have had the chance to post, though. I have been searching the forum for hours, but cannot find the answer to this problem.

Today, I was making sure that my mother and handicap father would be able to get into our farm to be able to go hunting tomorrow evening. We have had a lot of rain in Alabama lately, and was concerned about them getting stuck. Well, leave it to me this afternoon to get my 2006 F-350, 6.0 (King Ranch, DRW) slightly stuck. After about 30 minutes of back and forth, mostly slowly, but I also rev'ed the engine occasionaly, I was able to free the truck. I turned the wheel a lot, rev'ed the engine some, and even had to place some small limbs under the tires. This was all in 4WD Low, and I manually locked the front hubs. As I made it back onto the highway, I realized that I had no brakes and no power steering at low speed.

I called the local dealership and tried to troubleshoot with them for a few minutes, with no luck. I checked the power steering fluid, and it was to the full line on the dipstick. I was able to limp back to the house slowly and carefully (about 30 minutes away), and here is what I discoverd.

1.) I have no power steering or braking at idle.
2.) If I put the transmission into Neutral and rev the engine, I have brakes and steering. So going around corners, I shift to N, rev the engine with my right foot, apply brakes to slow down with my left foot, and I am able to turn the wheel. Shift back to Drive, and continue on my way.
3.) At highway speed, I have brakes and steering

What do you think? Power Steering Pump? Hydro Boost? Other?



Thank you in advance for your help,


-John

 

My uneducated guess would be the pump. When you rev the engine you are increasing the rpms of the pump.

 

I would say pump too.

 

WOW! A member for 5 years with your first post yesterday? Thats gotta be some kind of record! I can't keep my big mouth shut for more than 5 minutes LOL! Glad to finally meet ya.

 

If it isn't the pump, what about the power brake booster?

 

possible pump or possible resivor screen pluged

 

what he said, resevor screen on my dads 7.3 plugged up before

 

Everyone, thank you for all of your help. I am leaning a lot towards the power steering pump as well. The idea about a plugged reservoir screen is a great thought though.

I broke down and took the truck into the local stealership today. I had numerous other small problems that have been nagging for quite some time. I figure it is a good time to get them all taken care of. I was hoping to repair it myself and keep moving forward, but I don't have the time to try different parts until it works. With my luck, I would change the power steering pump, the hydro-boost, and every other part to only discover a screen was clogged in the reservoir. Again, I appreciate the help and suggestions. I will let you know what Ford says when I get the truck back (hopefully soon...).

Yes D8chumley, I am that guy . Just a looker and researcher for 5 years and three different Ford Trucks. If I search long enough I am usually able to find the answers to my problem in this great forum. This time though, I could not find a similar post anywhere. I did search for 5-6 hours last night before finally posting. Thanks again, and I will update this thread when I get my truck back for a future researcher...


Thanks,


-John

 

When you get it back you should think about adding a Magnefine tranny filter to the p.s. return line. Have had one on mine for a year now and am happy with it.

 

Foshejh, I wanted to PM you, but thats not available for you- I guess b/c you don't have enough posts. I don't want to sound like a jerk so don't take this that way but some of the techs here get offended (rightly so) when people refer to dealers as "stealerships". Granted there are some bad ones out there. I didn't know how to put this "P.C." so I just said it. Hope you understand

 

that never happens

 

D8chumley, thank you for your comment. I certainly do not mean it offensively, just sort of meant it in a joking manner. I need to be more careful what I write and how it could come across, especially to those who work hard all day repairing and putting cars back on the road. I am sorry about the comment. I am not much of a P.C. type of person, but when asking for help in a public forum, one should be more sensitive.

Now to the truck. I talked to service department today, and they have narrowed the problem down to the power steering pump. As I have a number of other small problems, the truck will remain in the shop for another day or two. I will report back when I receive the truck later this week and try to let everyone the final outcome. Thanks again for everyone's help.


Thanks,


-John

 

No problem, I'm happy to see you didn't take it the wrong way. Some people might be insulted, enough said. Cheezit is a tech and from all the help he has given to members here, sounds like a pretty dang good one! If I lived in Texas I'd be looking him up for sure

 

Can someone help me understand why a power steering pump problem would cause no brakes?

 

this truck runs a hydroboost break system. dieselengines by nature do not produce enugh vacuum to use a vacuum assist booster. so we need to have either a big vacuum pump or get assist from a different sorce. powersteering pumps have the ability to produce large amounts of both flow and pressure and that is why it is used. If you need more help to clarify it let me know