qwest

Locked up steering,now leaking PS Pump: At the coupling...
It's PS Fluid, Reservoir drained overnight ....

QUESTION: Can i replace PS pump without removing the Vacuum Pump....?

I can get at the nuts with 'S' wrench, and it looks like there is room to move the
PS pump to the rear.

Also, Is there a seal between the PS Pump and Vacuum Pump???
Should I replace it and what is it ( 'O' ring or special pn ) ?

Thanks...

pind

there is a vacuum pump seal kit available from cummins, that reseals the problem between the two pumps.

That said, if it isn't leaking, do you really want to do a pre-emptive strike? Probably.

Yes, you can take the p/s pump with out the vac pump, some people just find it easier to do taking both as a unit.

Junk Man

I took mine out as a unit & installed seals from Peter Gould. You can buy the seals cheaper but not if you're in a hurry. The braided hose from the block to the pump was fubar so I went to Cummins for that. If you have the time, a seal house can match your old seals. Double lipped seems the way to go.

nickg

take it out as a unit and seperate on the bench, dont unhook the hi-pressure lines at the pump follow them up near the brake booster and unhook them there, much much easier, plus you wont strip them or curse for hours while you try to loosen them when there is not enought room to swing the wrench. took me 15mins the first time I removed it as an assy.
seal kit can be gotten from cummins for like 13-18$

qwest

Thanks guys, May pull the asm today, Have a vacuum pump rebuild kit coming
from Geno's.

Picked up a PS pump from Advance, May use it ( Returnable ) .
It came with the coupler installed on the shaft. Is this normal?

My Dodge manual says to remove the oil pressure sensor first,
but I do not see one in that area ??? Did the 2002 change and the book is downlevel?

I was concerned about aliening the vacuum pump to the drive gear.
Can someone tell me how the Vacuum pump couples to the drive.
Is there a gear on the Vacuum pump? A Slot like the PS coupler ???

I know a lot of questions, But at my age ( 70) I don't handle surprises well

AND, THANKS ALL.

Hint on unhooking hoses on top , Good , Thanks..

qwest

May not have to change Pump, At least Not now....

MAJOR UPDATE:

Leak Fixed it self !!!!! ???????

recap:
PS Fluid had run down onto the Electrical Harness , down to lowest point and than dripped onto the trac Bar.
Ran down the trac Bar to Passenger side attach, than onto cement driveway ,and ran back behind wheel to form a 8 “ puddle. Defiantly PS Fluid.
Thats How I found leak Monday Morning.

I checked fluid level, none on stick, and assumed the reservoir to be empty as no fluid was dripping from pump..
.than I cleaned up the mess with eng brite.

Today , I turned truck around, and still had Power Steering, ????
No more leaks, should be empty. Not so, below 'stick' but not empty....
Ok, I service the reservoir, Only needs 4-5 ozs... ?????? Wasn't empty.
I check underneath, No Drips, Bone dry.... What The...

OK. test drive 8-10 miles, Still Bone Dry......

Now I'm perplexed, Could Overpressure push by the PS Pump Seal?
( I thought it looked wet, but it could have come from somewhere else )
Is there a Pressure relief somewhere ?
I did see a spring under the filler cap, would that allow excess pressure to Push out???
( I checked the spring movement, seemed stuck, than freed up )
Or, since there seemed to be a lot more fluid on the ground than I put in,
maybe I over filled it ( Sync, Clear , hard to see ) Would to much fluid and colder weather
cause the Locked up Steering???? ( Nov in Maine was not a problem ).

Oh, well. Plus side, I now have a Vacuum Pump Seal Kit ( UPS door bell as I type ) and
I DID LEARN a lot , so if/when it screws up again I will be ready...

Also, reading the “ Pressure Regulator “ post. Maybe I should Clean The Screen.
Is it Under the Pressure Out Line ?????

AND, Thanks all. I was “ ready” for the job !!!!!

Junk Man

Things that fix themselves break again at the most inopportune times.

nickg

very common for the PS to puke out fluid especially if its cold out side, lots of threads on this, common fix is to replace the PS fluid with synthetic , the problem is the Hydroboost dumps its fluid that is stored in the acculimator (it stores pressure so that you have a couple of brake applications incase the engine stalls) and the reservoir does not have room for the extra fluid, usually on start up the pump cavitates and you have no Power steering or brakes.
simple test is to confirm "bad" Hydroboost is to step on the brakes in the morning (after truck has sat for a few hours) if the pedal is Hard and there is no assist, that means the hydroboost lost its stored pressure.
common mistake when this happens is folks think they have a bad PS pump, they replace it, and depending if they replaced the fluid or not they usually still have the same problem.

Try flushing out the old fluid and replace it with a syn PS fluid, keep an eye on it for leaks, my guess is all that was wrong was it dumped the extra fluid, causing the pump to caviate on start up, giving you no steering. flush first as its cheap to do and only takes a few mins of your time

qwest

Junk Man : Yup, Thats my concern.

NickG; Thanks for the detailed explanation,

I plan to try to flush the whole system , I starting to think some moisture froze
some where and caused the 'lock up' and subsequent dump of fluid.
( We had the 1st Real cold spell in Florida in in quite a few years, must be Global Warming )