gremlin in power steering

[AChaulk]

I’m having an intermittent problem with the power steering/power brakes on my 2001.



I don’t use this truck every day. Sometimes it sits for 1-2 weeks at a time, due to my work schedule. I do keep it in a nice dry and heated garage, so it’s not being exposed to the elements.



So I jump in the truck after it has been sitting for a week or two and try to back out of the garage, only to find the power steering and power brakes are dead. I pull it back in and go right to the TDR web site and start reading all the good info on here. I deduce that I must have sheered the shaft on the P/S pump and spend the next two days replacing the pump with a remanufactured pump from NAPA. The install goes great but initially the pump is not working. I scratched my head for a while and decided to try priming the pump by disconnecting the pressure side of the line running to the brake boost and sticking the open end back into the P/S pump reservoir. I crank the old girl up, fluid starts to circulate and pumps out a lot of air. I reconnect the P/B line and sure enough, the brakes and steering are now working.



Since I don’t have a set of jacks to pick up the front end, I pull out of the garage and proceed to find a nice flat, smooth patch of ice to position the front wheels on. (It’s January in Albuquerque) Then I turned the steering wheel from stop to stop about maybe five times (With the engine running. A possible error there. ) and everything is working great. I replenish the fluid to full and life returns to normal. I’m now feeling very proud of myself for fixing the problem for under a hundred bucks and not getting raped by the dealership.



About a month goes by and the truck is running great. I have a normal run around town for something and park it for the night. The next morning I go to drive it and once again…no P/S or brake boost. Dang!



After spending a few minutes trying to strong arm on the brakes and steering and having no change, I decide to do my little priming trick that I described above. The fluid starts flowing again and things are working normally again. Humm?



So now I figure that I did two days of replacing the old pump for nothing and pretty much wasted my time. I guess that explains why I couldn’t find anything obvious wrong with the old pump when I pulled it. I expected to find the shaft sheered or something obvious.



So now I’m pretty much back to ground zero and can’t find anything that really fits this particular problem in my thread searches on this web site.



I figure that the problem must be some air in the system somewhere. But the truck was running fine for several years and suddenly this problem started. It seemed only logical that it was a failed pump. What’s up with that?



My next step is to figure out a way to jack up my front end and do the stop-to-stop air bleeding trick and see if it makes a difference.



Anyone have any ideas as to what is really going on here?



Thanks in advance.

 

[MCummings]

Sounds like you are loosing prime. I dont' know how the3 fluid flows, but you probably have a leak on a return line that doesn't leak under pressure, but sucks air overnight.



Very common to have that type of problem on the 12 valve Cummins fuel system...





Merrick

 

[AChaulk]

Humm... Interesting possibility on the suction side leak. I took a good long look at the return lines and they appear to be tight and in sound shape. They have the dodge factory spring clamp fasteners, which aren't the best clamps in the world to use. I could replace them with steel worm clamps maybe?

 

[dknoch]

You have my attention being that my truck did pretty much the same thing. This morning after sitting in the garage over night, no PS or PB. Pulled it out of the garage, checked under the hood, all looked fine (didn't know the belt doesn't drive the pump). Figured I would drive it down the road a little bit and see if it made a difference. As soon as I pulled out of the drive and forced the wheels to steer, it whined a second (it has been whining in the cold since brand new) and worked fine. I ran some errands and no more problems. I will be interesting if it continues to be weird or not. We'll have to keep track and compare notes! Good Luck!

Dan

 

[AChaulk]

Yea... Exactly the same thing as mine. Except I didn't try strong arming it for very long. I did check the return lines for leeks as sugguested by Mcummings, but found nothing obvious. I still haven't had the time (or the jack stands) to jack it up and trund it from stop to stop to see if it blows out some air, etc. As soon as I get time I'll be sure to post on here. Might be a while though. Thanks for the input. Nice to know that I'm not the only one.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I know this is going to sound stupid but I'll tell you anyway. I don't see a signature on the original problem but there is one on the 2002 in the above posts.



I had to have my pump replaced on my 2001 because of play and overcenter issues. When the new pump was installed and I picked the truck up, I had to back down a hill at the dealership and turn sharp to get turned around. When I put on brakes and turned, there were hardly any brakes, the steering wheel was vibrating and a groaning noise was running through the frame.



The mechanic was standing outside and heard the noise. He had me pull the truck back in. I didn't see what he did but he told me that one of the lines was installed incorrectly and was placed against the frame. By incorrectly, he said the fluid was leaking back to the reservoir and causing an air lock of sorts in the line. The noise was the hard fitting against the frame cause the very audible groan as the pump was trying to pick up the fluid.



My point is, you may want to see how your lines are installed. Once the mechanic readjusted mine, I had no more problems. Also, when he made the change, the truck was on the rack. He started it and then went stop to stop five times with no weight on the wheels to get the air out of the system.



I personally don't see how the line routing could cause this and since I didn't get to see it before he moved it, I can't really add credence to what the mechanic told me. All I know is that mine was fixed. Good luck.

 

[Neibe]

Sounds like the check valve in the hydroboost is going bad mine went out while I was driving. Since the steering and the brakes all go thru the hydroboost I would look here. Also, it is very important to bleed the power steering if you don't you can burn up a power steering pump in a hurry I know because I did it. You got to bleed it before you start it up.