My Power Steering Pump Rebuild Thread

[sshanky]

I once read that transmission fluid had some stickiness or some other quality that makes it suitable to transfer the torque, and it said that property might be bad for a power steering system. Most other people said it's fine, though. Another guy told me that actual PS fluid will hurt the seals more than the ATF will. I got confused as well when I tried to find the actual Dextron III substitute, since there are lots of Dextrons. What's the difference between them? I don't really know much about the fluids.

Thanks

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by sshanky

I once read that transmission fluid had some stickiness or some other quality that makes it suitable to transfer the torque, and it said that property might be bad for a power steering system. Most other people said it's fine, though. Another guy told me that actual PS fluid will hurt the seals more than the ATF will. I got confused as well when I tried to find the actual Dextron III substitute, since there are lots of Dextrons. What's the difference between them? I don't really know much about the fluids.

Thanks

I don't know much either.

My usual source for information isn't very good today

DEXRON - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From what I can make out in the USA dedicated power steering fluid seems to be widely available. Over here it isn't. I read all of the warnings and fuss on this forum about only using power steering fluid and I couldn't find the bloody stuff for sale over here. So I consulted several good quality oil manufacturers' web sites and found that they all stated that their dexron 2 should be used in the power steering. So I've been using that!

[cp361]

Thanks for the thread ..I just notice some tell tale sign of front seal leakage on my pump. Your photos especially will help me with this repair project thanks much!

[pgringo]

i just replaced the front seal on my extra power steering pump last night.
if you *just* want to stop the leak on the front shaft seal: get the seal from the dealer with the part number from your particular power steering pump. remove the pulley & woodruff key. from the front of the pump...very carefully, with a small flathead screwdriver or the like, dig out the old hard front seal. you must take great care not to gouge the seal surface of the power steering pump. mine is aluminum, but some are cast iron or some other hard steel alloy or whatever. clean out any small bits of the old seal, grease the new seal, and install. i used a crescent wrench opened up wide and laid flat on the new seal then tapped that with a hammer.

btw, which is the return line on the power steering pump? thanks.

[oilslick]

My grandfather ran a small engine repair shop and when he needed to remove a small seal without prying on it with a screwdriver he would take a small sheet metal screw and screw it into the top of the seal and then take pliers and work the seal out by gripping the head of the screw. I have done it many times myself and it always works like a charm. No scars on the seal housing.

[pgringo]

Originally Posted by oilslick

My grandfather ran a small engine repair shop and when he needed to remove a small seal without prying on it with a screwdriver he would take a small sheet metal screw and screw it into the top of the seal and then take pliers and work the seal out by gripping the head of the screw. I have done it many times myself and it always works like a charm. No scars on the seal housing.

^ this. in my case, the small screwdriver was quicker than finding a small screw to use so i just went for it.

can anyone tell me which is the return line for the ps pump?