Hard steering after pump replacement

Shaft bearing on the old pump grenaded, so I changed out the power steering pump today. Bled it and although I'm not getting much whine, I have some hard steering at idle. Upon acceleration the steering is easy. Thoughts?

How did you bleed it? Get both front tires up off the ground and start turning side to side. It bleeds better with no load on it. Or it always has for the pumps I have replaced.

Just did my PS pump and pressure hose actually, I was careful not to let the steering box get any air in the new pressure line so I dodged any problems.... THIS Time.

Like the magician suggests, jack up both front wheels, one click forward on your key to unlock the steering column and go lock to lock a couple times slowwwwly by grabbing the tire rather than the wheel inside the XJ.

Start it up and try it now - I suggest an excellent Power Steering fluid like Valvoline Max - you might have a little foam and the better fluids have good additive packages in them to resist airing up and foaming - excellent for when you are trying to break in a system after a change.

Do you have a dead spot in your steering also? You could turn the "Taboo Screw" if you dare. People often freak out if you adjust the steering gear backlash screw. It can really help an older sloppier steering box, you just have to make a small move. It took the dead spot right out of my steering.

With the steering unlocked you can check play by grabbing the steering shaft just aft of the box with your hand and rotate it backy-forthy watching the pitman arm. If you can go a good amount either direction before the pitman arm moves, you could benefit from adjusting the backlash.

Pull the electric fan, use a 3/16" hex and 16mm wrench, break the lock nut and tighten the hex wrench only a little bit, a 1/4 turn should be considered a 100,000 mile adjustment (as a rough frame of reference). Lock the nut again and rotate the shaft backy-forthy again - better?



Geez, I've written a book! Anyhoo, I hope that you find at least some of that helpful! Cheers!
:cheers:

Did you get a reman pump? Maybe you got a bad one...

I had to swap out 2 Napa replacement PS pumps before I got a good one. The first one squeeled something fierce, so I took it back. The second one exhibited the same symptoms as yours...hard to turn at onset, but loosens up once driving.

The 3rd replacement PS pump worked like it was suppose to.....

No deadspots in the steering. Yea, I got a reman pump from Rock Auto. I did the typical bleed: see-saw the wheel about 20-25 times with engine off and wheels off the ground. Maybe I did get a dud pump. I'll give it a lil' longer and see if the steering gets any easier.

If, by chance, a bit of dirt got into the lines, this can also cause the symptom. Flush the system and see what happens. I use a turkey baster to draw out the fluid with the engine off so as to not allow air to introduce.

So, pull fluid, add fluid, run, stop and repeat. We had an issue with the Wife's Bronco and it was resorvled by flushing the system. Took a full quart and a half to flush out whatever it was that had gotten into the system.

Might help you, might not...

If the bearings in the pump cut loose, there is most likely crap in the steering gear. You should really run an inline filter in the return line on any pump/gear replacement.

The reason for my avatar is that my steering gear froze half way down a ledge and I couldn't turn the wheels.

The only way to get the crap out is to completely tear down the gear, clean everything and reassemble. If you do that, you should just do a full rebuild with bearings and seals, and adjust the gear for safety's sake.