While I was tackling my a/c issue I decided to address my power steering as well. My p/s has whined and leaked for as long as a remember min 5-6 yrs. When I got the a/c compressor out I saw my pump was caked in dirt and oil. I cleaned it off, it doesn’t appear that there was anything leaking above the pump. The rubber line that attached to the pump from what I could tell didn’t have any nicks in it, it had some fluid on it as well. I checked all the other lines and I didn’t see anything glaring. I ordered a new pump and was trying to put it in today, keyword try. Mind you I was working on my a/c so I was reaching behind the pump for the bolts. The 2 hex bolts I can get to for the most part. How in the world do you get to the big bolt ?
A quick note. Usually all of the leaks from the PS system are on the return line. So make sure to check that out. They tend to swell and that causes the leaks.
All the PS bolts should be relitivly easy to get to. Can you take a picture of the one your talking about.
There is no way for me to take a picture as I am working off touch. It’s the one regular bolt near the axle.
Also the return line up on the frame rail is dry
There are three bolts that hold the power steering pump in place. Two are 6mm allen bolts that go through the left far side of the gear drive unit area of the engine and the third is the lowest big 18mm transmission bellhousing bolt. If you can’t see it then remove the axle heat shield and it will become visible.
I guess I won’t really have a choice but to remove that heat shield and jack up the car higher.
Thanks jimmy said a lot better than I could.
Oh those bolts are the devil. Well with a pipe I still could not get that large bolt to move and I striped one of the hex bolts. Mind you they where already covered in oil. Hell I was thinking of putting on my new downpipes until that happened. I guess that pump will get replaced whenever I get my timing done.
I was just looking at those smaller bolts on ecs, are those two bolts torx head bolts?
If you have a B7 then they might be triple square bolts. The big 18mm bell housing bolt does take some effort to get loose.
I might try it one more time today. I have a b6, but who knows as I could never see the bolt head. The bolt that stripped I can at least get a vise grip on it, but if I can’t get that big bolt to move I wont even bother.
Well the good side of this is that its all much easier to get to when you do the timing.
Very true. Well I didn’t get a chance to work on that pump, I was focused on my a/c today. I did overfill the power steering when I got the front end back together and I have no whine. I read about a tsb about having to overfill the fluid to stop any noise. I wounder if I fall into that category and I was never told.
honestly if an over fill worked. I would just leave it alone. Make sure to check a few times and purge the system really good but that sounds like a win
Once I get the whole front back together I’ll check again, but it seemed fine after I got all the air out the system. If everything turns out fine, what could have caused the pump to be covered in dirt and oil? I know the return line above was dry.