Power steering issue

[KJBart]

A couple of weeks ago the power steering pump on my '07 failed while driving and lost all fluid. Got her floated to my local tech and after he had a look he told me the seal inside the pump let go so he replaced the pump.

After bleeding the system for air he took it for a spin and a few minutes later the fluid was boiling up in the reservoir. He then checked the hoses and rack and bled for air again. No difference, then replaced the ps cooler, still no difference. Read about an inline filter on the return hose but there's none on mine. Also using ATF-4 fluid.

I asked if the fluid was actually hot and not just air making it bubble up and he said it was actually boiling hot. He's since given up on the issue after trying another pump just in case i got a bad one. So I'm off to another shop on Monday. I must have a restriction somewhere in the system. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[JeepJeepster]

There is really only a pump, some hoses, and a steering rack.

Either the 2 new pumps are both bad out of the box of something is up with the steering rack. Did you continue to drive it after the pump emptied itself of oil? Is the power steering working now? Oil look clean?

 

[KJBart]

From the time I first heard the pump whine to when I was able to pull over (~300yd) the steering assist was gone. The power steering is working now with the new pump other than the heat issue, oil is clean.

 

[Shankster]

First thing I would do is trace the hoses and just make sure nothing is kinked or twisted (I know the mechanic already did that but worth double checking). If everything looks good I think I would either remove and check the hoses for a restriction or just replace the hoses if they weren't swapped out already. When the original pump let go it might have put debris into the lines or cooler or steering rack. As JeepJeepster said, you may have got a bad new pump and by a process of elimination (pump, lines, cooler all OK?) you might end up identifying the steering rack as the issue. I guess it's possible an issue with the steering rack (or something else) created the heat issue which blew the seal in the original pump? I replaced my rack a couple of years ago (different issue) with a new one off eBay for cheap and it's been going strong ever since.

 

[KJBart]

First thing I would do is trace the hoses and just make sure nothing is kinked or twisted (I know the mechanic already did that but worth double checking). If everything looks good I think I would either remove and check the hoses for a restriction or just replace the hoses if they weren't swapped out already. When the original pump let go it might have put debris into the lines or cooler or steering rack. As JeepJeepster said, you may have got a bad new pump and by a process of elimination (pump, lines, cooler all OK?) you might end up identifying the steering rack as the issue. I guess it's possible an issue with the steering rack (or something else) created the heat issue which blew the seal in the original pump? I replaced my rack a couple of years ago (different issue) with a new one off eBay for cheap and it's been going strong ever since.

Thinking along the same lines, I asked the original tech to throw some used lines on there for a test at least and a rack if need be. He had already tried the original hoses for flow with one end off and it seemed normal and the rack itself seemed to be working ok as well. But something still ain't right! so will throw parts till something sticks. Good point about debris causing a restriction. My tech also thinks the heat issue took out the pump's seal. At this point I'm leaning to it being the rack, will update when I know more. Thanks all!

 

[Shankster]

New or reman racks are fairly cheap but the labor to replace one is definitely not. Sounds like you're at that point though - hope that fixes the issue.