pulleys and power steering

Posted by: white on white gtp

pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 06:00 PM

so my tesnsioner pulley siezed the other night when i was about 2 miles from home which in turn broke the pulley off of the bearing and shredded the belt. i drove straight no more than 3 turns without power steering and parked the car. got a ride up to the store and changed the pulley and the belt. so far so good. so later in the day i go to go golfing and i make it within 1/4 mile of the course and i start hearing the power steering whine so i golf and then drive straight to meijer and buy some fluid and put it in on the parking lot. problem solved so far so good. so then i leave work today i get within 1/2 mile of my house and the power steering starts whinning again. so i pull in the driveway and notice two huge puddles of power steering fluid i presume one from the night the belt broke and one from the night after i replaced the fluid.

any ideas why losing the belt would cause my power steering pump to start leaking? i dont really have a problem replacing it i would just like to know why. anybody know how hard and expensive the part is to replace?

thanks for your help as always!
Posted by: RooK

Re: pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 06:02 PM

Your return line might have gotten damaged. I'd check it or just go ahead and replace. It connects to the bottom corner of the reservoir anyway.
Posted by: white on white gtp

Re: pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 08:11 PM

thanks rook. you were pretty darn close. the belt actually rubbed a whole in the resevoir. from what hear you cant buy the resevoir seperate so it looks like ill be replacing the pump...
Posted by: Blackarrow98GP

Re: pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 08:59 PM

If you don't already have them, be sure to buy/rent/borrow the tools to remove & install the ps pump pulley, before you get started. wink
Posted by: RooK

Re: pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 09:24 PM

Also, use an impact wrench on the pulley remove/installer. It turns a swearfest into a less than 3 minute process.

If you're feeling adventurous and the hole is small, you could remove the pump, degrease it and use a plastic epoxy to seal the hole.
Posted by: white on white gtp

Re: pulleys and power steering - 04/02/07 10:01 PM

yeah after i posted my response i actually ended up doing that. the hole was about 1/8" max by maybe 1/4" tall. im just going by feel cause i couldnt see it very well but i could just barely get a finger nail in it. im letting it set tonight even though it should only take 30 minutes to set and ill check it out in the morning. hopefully it work. i figured if it didnt i would just end up right back were i started needing a new pump so WTH.

thanks for the tips guys.