Archived Power Steering no flow

[BDaugherty]

Power Steering no flow *solved*

2001 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins 5spd. Built 02 2001.



It came in with a massive leak between the vac pump and steering pump. Also customer complaining of weak brakes and steering. Vac pump was scarred up pretty bad on inside and coupling was very worn. Replaced with new Dorman vac pump and new Napa PS pump.

Had a problem getting it bled out. It acted like the pump wasn't turning. Finally after pumping the brakes and steering back and forth, it made a noise and sucked the fluid down. I topped it off and it was good. It ran for nearly a week before the steering got weak again. I swapped out the pump only and this time I just can't get it to bleed at all. It feels like it's air locked or like the pump isn't turning. I put the vac pump and ps pump together on the bench making certain the drive was lined up and turning freely. I finally took the pressure line loose up near the hydroboost and nothing is coming out. The reservoir is full and I'm nearly certain the pump is turning. At least I don't know how it could not be. I'm going to remove the pressure fitting from the back on the pump and see what it looks like with the hose screwed into it. I feel like I'm missing something, but I really don't know what it would be. I've installed quite a few ps pumps on Dodge diesels over the years and this is the first one to have problems like this. I guess I could take it all apart again and fill it up on the bench and turn it by hand to see what happens. Any suggestions?

 

[mwilson]

2001 Ram 2500 4x4 Cummins 5spd. Built 02 2001.



It came in with a massive leak between the vac pump and steering pump. Also customer complaining of weak brakes and steering. Vac pump was scarred up pretty bad on inside and coupling was very worn. Replaced with new Dorman vac pump and new Napa PS pump.

Had a problem getting it bled out. It acted like the pump wasn't turning. Finally after pumping the brakes and steering back and forth, it made a noise and sucked the fluid down. I topped it off and it was good. It ran for nearly a week before the steering got weak again. I swapped out the pump only and this time I just can't get it to bleed at all. It feels like it's air locked or like the pump isn't turning. I put the vac pump and ps pump together on the bench making certain the drive was lined up and turning freely. I finally took the pressure line loose up near the hydroboost and nothing is coming out. The reservoir is full and I'm nearly certain the pump is turning. At least I don't know how it could not be. I'm going to remove the pressure fitting from the back on the pump and see what it looks like with the hose screwed into it. I feel like I'm missing something, but I really don't know what it would be. I've installed quite a few ps pumps on Dodge diesels over the years and this is the first one to have problems like this. I guess I could take it all apart again and fill it up on the bench and turn it by hand to see what happens. Any suggestions?

A hose with an interior liner failure so it is blocking the flow???



Mike.

 

[BDaugherty]

Thought about that. I guess I need to edit to say that I installed a new hose between the pump and hydroboost. Now the hose is loose from the hydroboost and looped back and stuck in the filler cap opening on the ps reservoir. No flow. It's as if the pump isn't even turning... but I can't figure out how that would be possible.

 

[mwilson]

Thought about that. I guess I need to edit to say that I installed a new hose between the pump and hydroboost. Now the hose is loose from the hydroboost and looped back and stuck in the filler cap opening on the ps reservoir. No flow. It's as if the pump isn't even turning... but I can't figure out how that would be possible.

You may have the misfortune of getting two bad pumps in a row. I think that if your bench test fails I would have them send over another one.



Some of this reman and even new stuff is getting dicey as far as quality goes.



Or is there a chance that the gear on the vacuum pump is slipping under load??



Mike.

 

[NIsaacs]

Now the hose is loose from the hydroboost and looped back and stuck in the filler cap opening on the ps reservoir. No flow.

Should not be any load with this. Can you look under the pump at the coupling when the engine is running and see what might or might not be turning?



Nick

 

[BDaugherty]

With everything assembled, you can't see anything. The coupling is fully enclosed. Also, I don't know how it could "slip". Everything uses a drive coupling.
I already got a different brand of reman pump, but even though the box was different the pump looked like it could have come from the same place. I'll pull it all back apart in a little while when I finish another project. Sometimes when I walk away from something for awhile, it seems to get better when I come back to it.
I know the vac pump is turning because it's making vacuum. At this point, I feel like it's either another bad pump or a problem with the outlet/pressure fitting on the back of the pump. It just seems like it's either air locked preventing the pump from priming, or the pump isn't turning.

 

[BDaugherty]

OK. Solved the whole aggravating thing. Three pumps in a row missing the pressure valve right out of the box. I finally got to the point where I took a pump apart to see why it wouldn't pump. To my surprise once I removed the main fitting, there was nothing there.

It's supposed to look like this, but items 2 and 3 weren't there. Three remans right out of the box. Liked to drove me nuts. If someone would have stocked a pump without the reservoir, I would have caught it before it got to this point, but everyone stocked the one with the reservoir and I never even bothered to see if it was put together right. The 4th pump had all its parts and worked fine.

 

[seafish]

THREE pumps rebuilt without the valve... . that's just insane!!

 

[Bob4x4]

And people say being a tech is easy... ... ...

 

[BDaugherty]

Some days everything just falls right into place and others everything just fights you each step of the way. I'm just glad I'm back to changing pumps for money. Having done the last few "on me" gets old.

 

[dieselmechanic]

hey I know this post is a few years old but I'm working on a 2001 dodge diesel and having the same issue only after finding this post I pulled apart the pump that I took off yesterday and the original pump and both having pressure valve and spring. I have tried 3 aftermarket pumps and even a steering box because the truck needed one and I was out of options so I said might as well. after doing all that I have no power steering flow at all pull the line off the hydro boost and nothing at all whats so ever. the vacuum pump is working and I did the same I installed the pump onto the vaccume pump on the bench. I am able to blow through the line from the pump to the hydroboost assuming it isent collapsed. any input is appreciated thanks you

 

[GAmes]

I went through 5 reman pumps in one year, lifetime warranties mean low quality. I solved it by buying a new one from mopar.