Power steering pump rebuild

[arnulfo de l.a.]

Greetings all,

i resealed my power steering pump and I must say I was extremely careful to put everything back together exactly as it came apart. I even took pictures through out the whole dis assembly process to make sure I got it right. Well it does not work! Not even a noise to indicate that it's trying.Any ideas on what I could have done wrong?is there some kind of bleeding procedure that I should have done on initial start up? My power steer worked PERFECTLY prior to my reseal attempt. I had a leak on the front seal that got real bad. I did a resealed on my 87 el camino and it came out great, so I felt confident that this would be a success also.Boy was I wrong! Well i guess i could say that it was a partial success, its not leaking fluid anymore lol.The car is a 1965 riviera gran sport. Thanks in advance for the help men,

arnulfo

[Jim Cannon]

Hi, Arnulfo! Good to see you here again.

I replaced the front shaft seal on my PS pump when it was leaking really badly. I was able to find the seal as a separate part, so I just replaced that one part. I did not open anything else up when I did that. I just removed the bad shaft seal and slipped on a new one.

Look at the shop manual description for the PS pump. I think there is a pressure relief valve in there. If you do not get it installed correctly, it will relieve all the pressure all the itme and you get no pressure to the PS unit on the column. That's all I can think of.

Good luck.

[arnulfo de l.a.]

Thank you Jim. I was thinking along the same lines as you as far as the relief valve being the culprit. Im glad I opened up the whole pump. All the Orings inside were brittle. Now if I can only get it to work!:)I will be taking the pump back off today and give it another shot. If I can't figure it out I may just have to take it to a shop in the e-side of l.a. that rebuilds them. i guess that's what I should have done in the first place but I hate paying anyone to do something that I think I can do myself.i will let you know how it all turns out. One way or another it will be fixed today.This car is my daily driver and here in beautiful Los Angeles a car is a necessity!

arnulfo

[arnulfo de l.a.]

Well men I'm happy to report that I got my power steering fixed. It turns out that I had reinstalled the center portion in which the rotating assembly sits backwards or upside down. The manual was a little help in determining this but the wear marks were what really pointed out my mistake. No leaks and my steering works perfectly as before. Lessons learned;

1) no matter how many pictures you take, there is still the possibility for error,2) don't take on any mechanical endeavor if you are tired and hungry unless its an emergency. Life is good in riviland!

arnulfo

[Jim Cannon]

Great news!

I will try to remember to give you a shout the next tme I an in L.A. so I can see your car.