New Power Steering Pump.

Power Steering Pump Died.

Driving back South on a dark and bleak Sunday night, it was weird coming off the motorway for the A road home and the steering was very heavy, thought it was a maybe a puncture but I pulled up and all the tyres were hard so carried on and it seemed as though the PAS had failed, but it was still running, albeit with a swirling in the PAS reservoir, so I carried on only for the pump to seize solid and snap the belt.

It was late and I was tired, called the AA road recovery service and about an hour and a half later a guy turned up and fitted one of those "cut to fit" get you home V belts that connects in the middle and needless to say, it didn't last more than 10 minutes.

Lets pop the hood and dive straight in.

The humble shoe lace that kept the water pump spinning over to get me home. 

This  is the pulley that powers the PAS pump and transfers power to the alternator, it got very hot when the pump seized and damaged the alternator belt.

Damage to the alternator belt can be seen here, I wouldn't risk running this belt again, it's been compromised by heat from the PAS belt slipping and ultimately snapping.

Brand new pump £200, another £30 for belts and £40 for fluids, dear old game this lately.

 Not sponsored so all my own dollar 😒😒😒

Alternator off first to gain access to the pump, remembering to pull the battery clamps off, the alternator wire is live so when it's hanging free it's dangerous.

The pressure feed off the pump is 16mm and usually a pain to get off as it will have been on there a long time.

Make sure the oil drain pan is under there to catch the oil as it flows out the pump and reservoir.

Make sure you realise that the reservoir is still going to have fluid in it and it will need emptied out.

Next to remove the PAS pump, the pump is mounted to the plate that adjusts the tension of the belt, 3X M6 flange headed bolts hold the pulley to the flange and 3X m8 flange headed bolts locate and tension the adjuster plate, 4X M6 flange headed bolts hold the pump to the back of the plate and it's a wriggle and a wiggle to get the flanges through the plate.

Swap over the reservoir feed pipe, it's a ball ache trying to undo the clips with the pump in situ so it's easier to leave it in place until you get it out.

I opted to pour a litre of fluid through the return line to at least flush some of the bad fluid out of the steering box.

Fitting the pump back in place.

Pulley replaced and alternator put back on and wired back up, new belts fitted, fluid all topped up and bled through.

I have now done 360 miles on it and it is great, no more groaning and whining with actual power in the steering, so much better.

I still need to drain and replace the fluid at least two more times and to fit an inline transmission filter to filter out any remaining debris in the system, I couldn't get one fast enough for my trip at the weekend so I had to take the gamble.

Thanks for looking and please feel free to comment.