Conor

Well, I finally got the pump off, then I resealed it with the kit (928 347 921 01), and when I put it back in the car I have no power steering. I'm pretty sure I put the pump back together correctly, and I'm almost positive it's mounted exactly as it was. The pump worked fine before, except it was leaking and making noise, but I never had a power assist problem. Any ideas?
Thanks,

Conor

JLeake

If you somehow re-assembled the pump without the relief valve spring in place then you wouldn't get any power assist. And of course make sure your belt is on both pulleys and is tight.

Conor

The spring is in there, I think as it should be, but it looks like I'm going to have to take it apart again and see if something doesn't look right. Oh well, thats for another day.
As for the belt, I would have liked to get it tighter. but my tensioner is f-ed up, someone stripped one of the locking nuts, but it is definitely driving both pulleys.

thanks,

Conor

Conor

I was just looking at a pic I took of the pump disassembled, and I may have put the flat thing that goes on the very top of the thing in direct contact with the spring on 90 degress from how it should be. If that made any sense at all, could that be the problem?

Bryan

You might have an air lock in the lines.

Bryan

JLeake

Conor- If you are speaking of the retaining clip that holds the releif valve piston and spring back, it won't matter how it's oriented (it just snaps in place).

If you left out the sort of figure 8 shaped seal or its retainer (hard piece, same shape) you wouldn't be building much pressure either (short ciruit from hi to lo pressure). That's obvious, but doesn't hurt to mention it.

Conor

That weird shaped seal is definitely in there, along with the thinner stiffer one.
What would I do about an air lock? Could you expand?

Thanks again for the replies!

JLeake

You would need to bleed the lines (pretty simple really...just start the car and turn the wheel from lock to lock keeping an eye on the fluid level, replinishing as necessary).

I don't think it's possible to hook the supply and return hoses up backwards...but if you did that would not be good!

You put all of the vanes back in the pump I assume...the rebuild is a pretty simple job...can't think of much else that could be wrong.

You didn't mess with the rack at the same time did you?

Conor

No, I didn't mess with the rack. The bolts are different sizes for the two lines, so they are right, I believe. The fluid level is fine, and I'm not getting any more bubbles, so I think it is bled.

One other question, is not having a working pump going to damage the rack, even if there is fluid in it?

Thanks again,

Conor

JLeake

No, it won't damage the rack as long as there's fluid in there. It will put more stress on the u-joint in the shaft that goes from your steering wheel to rack, but I don't know if it's enough to be of concern.

By the way, when you go back in there to look at things you don't have to remove the two lines to the pump (unless of course you want to put the pump on your bench for inspection).

Any possibility a foreign object could have fallen in a hose?

Conor

I don't think anything could have fallen in. I replaced the reservoir as well, but those lines are relatively small and I really don't think I dropped anything. The way the other lines are set up, I think, they are pretty well protected from stuff falling in.

I think I'm just going to pull the pump again and make sure nothing fell apart when I put it back together.

Thanks for the help!

Conor

JLeake

Conor-

So what was it?