Power Steering Pump

Anyone else besides me had any problems with their power steering pump on a 98 Cherokee Sport.

Mine's gone south on me and it is making the whole car sound like a freakin' tank.

Anyone know if it is difficult to replace for a do-it-yerselfer????

The dealership wants 500 bucks Canadian (probably about six bucks US ).

It is real easy, just need basic hand tools. Buy a factory pump don't use any remanufactured junk. The only special tool you'll need is a pully remover/installer. Might be able to rent one at loacal auto parts store.

mark
orgs mfg

sounds like a tank huh? like a deep "growling" sound? my 87 does that but i see no problems with it and the previous owner said its always done it..... i know one day its gonna go crap out on me....

Mine didn't sound like a tank, but it quieted down a bit after I drained it and put in valvoline max life ATF.

You might want to try Lucas PS leak fix and lubricate. It looks like red grease. Very thick and really helps to condition the system. About $6 for a bottle.

I think mine is way beyond any 'quick fix' things. It is rattling and cerchunking and clacking and it sounds like it is gonna fall out of the vehicle.

Do you think it is worth a try with the goop stuff?

Anyone know what causes a power steering pump on a vehicle to go toes up like that??????

PS Pumps generally fail from one of three reasons:

1. dirt enters the PS system, and contaminates the fluid
2. some component of the system (steering gear, hoses, etc.), begin to fail, contaminating the fluid, causing failure in #1 above
3. old age pump failure-usually well after 100K miles, if kept filled with clean fluid.

Goal,

Before you change the PS pump why don't you do a fluid change. There two ways to do this. The first is to use a turkey baister, you know looks like a large eye dropper, and suck out the fluid in the reservoir, refill and then do this a few days later. Keep doing it till you get clear fluid.

I tried that and after 3 times my fluid still came out black. I then decided to change the hoses since they were 15 years old. I changed the hoses. The new hoses came with a cap for the nipple on the reservoir so I put that on and then placed the return line into a 2 liter soda bottle. It took me 3 quarts to go from coffee to cream soda to clear Power steering fluid. look in your owner's manual and use the fluid called out. Around 2000 chrysler went to ATF instead of Power steering fluid to solve a moaning problem.

Any chilton/haynes manual will show you how to change the fluid. Try a fluid change before you drop the money on a new pump.

When i was doing research on the web I found companies selling machines to do power steering fluid flushes, looks like we will start hearing about power steeering flushes in the next few years

Martin

Mine was doing that before I replaced the pump with one from AGR. But before I replaced it, I was waiting to do it with the new engine. I put in Lucas Power steering pump fluid. Just use a turkey baster to get the old fluid out, put the new stuff in, it works to keep the seals from making that tank like noise. The fluid lasted me about 6 months before I replaced the whole thing.

I just went ahead and had it replaced.

Damn thing's so quiet now you can't even hear the engine run unless the hood's up.

That's a good thing.

The bad thing is the $370 it cost me for a new one. The mechanic who replaced it said the whole thing basically came apart inside.

Sheesh . . . sure wish I knew why!!!!

The one on my 95 just went recently. Worked perfectly, no valve noise, but it was growling, and you could feel the vibration if you touched it. Happily the the one from an 89 fit. $370 sounds awfully steep for a nearly generic Saginaw pump.

Here's a question: My Chevy truck has a fairly substantial PS cooler, about the size of a transmission cooler on an XJ. I wonder if such a thing would be a good mod for those who wheel heavily. I'm thinking of doing it for mine, even though I don't wheel it. It would be a breeze to install one of these in the return line, and in the process it would increase the overall fluid volume by a little.

Well, I know that some of you may freak at what I'll suggest, but for some of us living in other countries (than US) DC parts are not that common and the stealer prices are above the roof (of a lifted Cherokee).

So, my steering pump was leaking fluid since the day I got the truck. Eventually it got so bad that I had to do something about it. I was getting ready to order a replacement from USA (my usual parts suppliers are US-based), when my mechanic (an old AMC-era shop) said "Well, you can order one, as you say, or you can let me put a rebuild kit on this one and see what we'll get". The cost was about 30 US$ (about 1/3 of the price of a pump from USA) so I said OK.

After maybe an hour, my steering pump was fine again, not a single drop has leaked since that day.

Overall, pretty good for 30 $.

Just a thought.