No power in power steering

[MarzzTaco]

while getting myself through some serious snow today I was doing a lot of 4Lo 2nd gear 4500 RPMS to have enough jam to stay on top of the drifts. Anyways....when I got back onto the hiway I noticed I had no power in my steering. I looked under the hood when I got home and there power steering fluid sprayed all over the front of my engine and hood etc. Pretty sure the pump is toast. Has anyone seen this happen before? My pump has been whining for over a year now constantly. My rack is also pretty funky. I guess I should replace both at the same time. Is there a method to cleaning out the PS lines to make sure there's no junk in there when I put my new rack and PS pump on? Also what would you recommend for a PS filter?

Thanks

[platform389]

Originally Posted by MarzzTaco

while getting myself through some serious snow today I was doing a lot of 4Lo 2nd gear 4500 RPMS to have enough jam to stay on top of the drifts. Anyways....when I got back onto the hiway I noticed I had no power in my steering. I looked under the hood when I got home and there power steering fluid sprayed all over the front of my engine and hood etc. Pretty sure the pump is toast. Has anyone seen this happen before? My pump has been whining for over a year now constantly. My rack is also pretty funky. I guess I should replace both at the same time. Is there a method to cleaning out the PS lines to make sure there's no junk in there when I put my new rack and PS pump on? Also what would you recommend for a PS filter?

Thanks

Yep, your pump is toast. I am on my third one. They are not that hard to replace and you can save some $$$$ doing the work yourself.

I went with a remanufactured Toyota pump this last time to save some bucks as well. They are about $100 cheaper than a new one, which is about $350. You will need to remove your bad pump and turn it in to avoid a core charge. Also, you don't get a reservoir or belt pulley and will need to reuse yours. Remove them before taking it to the parts guy. The Service Manual says you need a SST to remove the pulley, but that is not necessary. Put a 3/8" roll pin punch in one of the holes at the bottom of the pump to hold the pulley for removal and reinstallation. Works great!

Also make sure you get new copper washers for the union bolt on the pressure side. Also remember to replace the tiny O ring on the reservoir bottom. Make SURE you use a torque wrench to tighten everything up to avoid leaks.

Refer to 2001 Service Manual pages SR-30 through SR-33 for additional information.

Reservoir mounting bolt (Front)-9 ft/lbs
Reservoir mounting bolts (Back)-17 ft/lbs
Belt Pulley Mounting bolt-32 ft/lbs
Union bolt-34 ft/lbs
Pump bracket mounting bolts-29 ft/lbs

Not sure what you mean by your steering rack being "funky". Those are expensive, around $900 IIRC. Those are also available as a reman item. Check into it if you need one. Junkyard might also be a route to consider.
Search around for other discussions about replacing the rack bushings for torque values on those mounting bolts. Air tools will make that job much easier. If you don't have those, a long pull handle will be needed to break them loose.

To bleed the PS system. Jack the truck up with the front wheels completely off the ground. Without starting the engine, crank the steering wheel back and forth lock to lock 4-5 times. Crank up the truck and look down into the reservoir while someone turns the wheel. If you see bubbles, shut down and repeat the process above again.

I have never heard of a filter on the power steering. Maybe someone else can help you out with that.

Good luck and let us know how the job went!

[bb609]

You might want to try a rebuild kit for less than $20 before you go for a whole pump.

[platform389]

Originally Posted by bb609

You might want to try a rebuild kit for less than $20 before you go for a whole pump.

Thats true. The reason I didn't suggest it was he said it had been "whining for a year". Sounds like it has been run to failure.

Always hard to diagnose these problems with a keyboard..

[shovelracer]

I rebuilt mine about 40K ago. There is not that much to the inside. If it was run dry the bearing could be damaged. Also the fan that pumps the fluid showed some wear on mine. Anyway the pump still works there isn't that much inside. Just the bearing the pump fan and the O rings. With mine the O ring dried and stretched causing a leak.Now the fan isn't perfect, but it still pumps. The only difference is that the power isn't there at idle. The only time I feel it is in a parking spot. I burp the tthrottle and it goes away. The rack you can get rebuilt from many online auto stores like importauto for like 250 or so. Remember to flush the old system and only use ATF. Good Luck