The PO said that the power steering pump was binding up after he replaced the rack. I confirmed this before I removed the pump. It seemed like some metal was getting caught in the pump somewhere, resisting rotational motion.

I took the pump off and cracked it open tonight (seals were good I believe, as the PO never said the pump leaked). When I separated the two halves, the spring, valve piece and clip (two pieces) from the end opposite the pulley fell out and I didn't see how they were originally installed.

This "spider" clip that some refer to it as, I seem to have two pieces. One piece appears to have sheared off from somewhere, and may have been causing the binding.

Should there be two pieces? Can anyone tell me how this clip holds the valve in place? Is this clip necessary for pump operation? Pictures would be nice, but I'm not expecting anyone to tear their pumps apart.

All the refurb kits don't include this clip, only the c-clips for the other half.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
-bp

 

bump

 

the rack is binding or the pump? I have a pump - actually two- if you need one.

 

The pump was binding.

I disassembled the pump a little bit more and believe I solved the mystery.

Although I am still not completely sure what a regular clip should look like, I believe a portion of the clip that sits down into a little notch in the pump casting broke off and started to circulate throughout the pump. Kind of like throwing a spoon in blender...

I pulled off the piece of the pump that has the irregular shaped gasket (kind of looks like the bosch symbol if you ask me) and found a bunch of goudging on the back side in the metal. I believe that clip piece got between the rotating impellar and this piece. Thus causing the binding and metal goudging.

I was able to reassemble everything, and the shaft rotates relatively freely now. I am going to reinstall on the car and see how everything behaves.

The PO did put a new rack on the car but never got around to the pump before he sold it to me. I would hate to have this POS pump destroy the new rack.

xsboost90, I may have to get in touch with you about the pumps if this one won't work.