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Power steering pump whining -bad?


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you can either remove the pump from the bracket or remove the whole assembly.

 

first off, remove the lines from the pump and reservoir. the reservoir side has a hose clamp, and the pump side has a 17mm male fitting. use a 19mm to hold the female end so the line doesnt twist.

make sure not to lose the o-ring on the male fitting.

 

there are 12mm bolts with torx fittings in the heads. if you can get in there, take them out. but 2 of them are under the intake, you will need some deft hands and some clever wrenching to get to them, or, if you had to take the intake manifold off for any reason, there you go.

 

if you cant get the whole asembly off, start by removing the pulley. wedge a socket extension or whatever between the holes on the pulley and the bracket to break the nut loose. the pulley fits onto a splined shaft, but may need some persuasion to come off. after the pulley is off, there are 3 12mm bolts that hold the pump body to the bracket. remove those and the pump is free.

 

the reservoir can be removed, say as if you needed it for a new pump that doesnt have one. there are 2 10mm bolts that hold it on. dont lose the rubber o-ring between it and the pump itself

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Today I noticed that a metal hose for the power steering pump was disconnected and the fluid was leaking out. Once I tighted it, no more came out. I filled it up.

 

Once I started driving, especially making turns, I hear this noise. Turns are noisy, especially if I hit gas while doing it.

 

My question is, have I damaged something by driving apparently without any power steering fluid at all for about 60 miles? Is the power steering pump bad now? Or is it because I overfilled it? (it didn't look like it)

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actually, i'm used to the pump making noise when it's low on fluid and noisier when turning.. you may have fragged the pump, and it may not be a bad idea to change it just in case. certainly easier than changing the rack and pinion.

I'd like to endorse taking the assembly out of the bracket. the bracket bolts can be hard to get to depending on what intake manifold your car has. take it out of the bracket like miles described, and disconnect the clamps for the lines on the sides of the block (one at the base of the oil fill tube, one right behind the passenger side PCV hose) and that will let you lift the pump up and over something to drain it into, inside the engine bay.

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oh, and you DID use dexron ATF and not "power steering fluid," didn't you?

 

Whoops, no I didn't.

How do I flush it out? Is that the cause of the noise? Do I still have to change the power steering pump? Or should I try using Dextron ATF first?

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  • 1 month later...

Think of it this way, if you run your engine or tranny out of oil the car really doesn't tend to like it much. You probably did hurt the power steering pump but if it still works just fine now (except for the whining) you probably didn't kill it all of the way. Another thing to remember is that MOST Fords have the same power steering whine all of the time (probably from the factory) and people drive them around like that anyway and don't really have problems.

Just make sure every so often to check your ATF in there pretty often because even if you don't see it leaking it may still be doing it. Usually the whining is the first sign that your fluid is low (that and not being able to turn your car). Otherwise you end up with manual power steering or selective power steering that only works when it wants to. I know that didn't all make much sense but at least I know what I mean! :D

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