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1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
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Just a follow up on a post I made earlier.
Car: 99 9-3 (base) 5 speed, 160K
My power steering pump was slowly dumping fluid (seemed to be accumulating nicely on the serp belt) and I had a whirring sound the increased with rpm (not the turbo, it is totally linear in frequency and intensity from idle, not the way a turbo spools up) that I believed was in the accessory drive belt.
I recently replaced the idler pulley, and it wasn't "bad", but the bearing race was sloppy, so I don't think it was real long for this world.
This weekend I replaced the power steering pump ($110 because my father in law works for a parts place). Its pretty easy to get at in a relative sense. If you want room to work, remove the air filter box (three nuts)and outlet from the box that runs to the turbo and intake manifold (a couple of hose clamps). Next pull the serp belt off of the Power steering pump (PSP) pulley (if you have a tool to pull on the tensioner pulley spring this is a 30 second operation. If your are like me, it takes 5 minutes or so to work the belt off by slipping something under it, standing on top of the engine, and pulling it up and off of the idler pulley.
If you have a pulley puller, now is the time to get it out for removing the PSP pulley (I don't know how one could do this without a pulley puller). I made the mistake of totally removing the pump and then realizing there is no way I cold get the force necessary to pull the pulley without it "fixed". So I put the pump back on (after applying a little break free to the pulley spindle). Eventually the pulley broke free. Unfortunately I busted a small piece of the cast Al mounting bracket before then. There are 5 studs that secure the bracket and PSP. Three bolts secure the pump bracket to the block (you will want a ratcheting 13mm open end/box wrench for removing these, they are not on real tight, but getting enough space to turn them is not possible without the ratcheting action). Two bolts secure the bracket to the pump. One through bolt that secures the pump in two dimensions through the bracket and a second small bolt that keeps the pump from rotating on the axis of the first through bolt. This is where I broke the bracket, through bolt hole for the second bolt. Fortunately, this joint is in compression from the tension of the serp belt, so the pump isn't going anywhere (plus tension on the first bolt will help keep the pump from rotating). Note you may want to note the clearance of the pulley and the block, or mark the position on the spindle, so that you can press it on to the same position when you reassemble, your serp belt will like this.
Once the pulley is off you can start disconnecting the two fluid lines (or if you are smarter than me, you will follow someone elses directions and drain the fluid before you start the job). The inlet line from the reservoir is just held on by a spring hose clamp. I just placed a drain pan on the floor, and wedged a funnel in below the hose, and when I disconnected this line, I let the crap from the reservoir drain into the pan. I had gotten most of the fluid out earlier, but there were some remnants.
The higher pressure outlet side is hard wired, with a flange, nut and o-ring. Simply unscrew the nut to remove. A smarter person would have replaced the o-ring, but since I didn't have a leak to start with, I just let it go. With everything out of the way, pull all of the bolts to remove the pump and bracket. I suppose you could get away with just removing the two bolts that hold the pump to the bracket, but I had some serious clean up to do from my leak, so I pulled it all.
I put the new pump on the bracket and reinstalled the assembly with the three mounting bolts. The pump I bought had a pulley installation tool (a threaded bolt with a square nut and washer). You screw the square nut on to the bolt, followed by the washer. Then you place the pulley onto the pump spindle. The pump spindle is threaded for the bolt, so thread the bolt until it bottoms out, making sure that your square nut and washer do not stop the bolt prematurely. After that, start tightening your square nut, and this should start pushing the pulley onto the spindle. You will want to push the pulley onto the spindle to the same position it was before you took it off.
You can reinstall the fluid lines, air box and serp belt now, then fill the reservoir with fresh power steering fluid (Pentosin CHF-11S, I believe). I let the car run for 15 seconds or so and turned the steering lock to lock once or twice, then shut it down and checked fluid level again. After doing this a few times, there was no more need to add fluid, and the frothing from air escaping from the system had calmed down.
I checked the fluid level last night after running a few errands, and did not notice any leaks or a lowering of fluid level in the reservoir.
My whirring sound is not fixed yet, not too much left (water pump, alternator, tensioner pulley). I think I will play it by ear. I still have not replaced my oil coated serp belt, since I want to be sure the fluid leak is stopped before I soak another belt with power steering fluid.
My $0.02, hopefully this will help someone on the board someday.
posted by 136.237.60...
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