Power steering trouble on Samurai

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
I am having some problems with my power steering on my 87 Samurai.

Here are the specs on the rig and setup:
- Suzuki Sidekick power steering system
- 34" tires
- Lock right locker in front axle
- small transmission style cooler for power steering cooler

As far as I can remember, the pump was quiet or at least fairly quiet when I first put it on 3 or so years ago. I think it slowly started getting louder and louder over the past couple of years, but I really can't remember. During the Toy run at Mtn City about a month ago, I flopped the rig on the waterfall on Welder. After righting the rig, I checked the PS fluid and added a little. The PS never quite worked correctly after that. It made a fair amount of noise, and would occasionally feel like it had no 'power steering' for short periods of times (1-5 seconds for example). I changed out the pump today, to another Sidekick pump I have, and it didn't make any difference. Is it possible that the steering box itself was damaged during the flop for example by taking a hard hit to the side of a tire such that it doesn't work correctly?

Thanks,
Danny
 
Sounds to me like you've got air trapped in your system. Did you bleed it real good? Also, how is your cooler mounted? If your hoses come in from the side then you may have air trapped in there too.
 
The cooler has the hoses coming in from the bottom. Yeh, I was thinking maybe air trapped as a possible cause too, but after swapping the pump nothing changed.
 
Can you unmount the cooler to allow any air to purge out? Or maybe rotate it so it will self purge ?

Are kick pumps a TC style? I remember them being a that size but for get what style they were. But could you retrofit in a regular TC pump ?
 
I can unmount the cooler fairly easily and move it around, but I guess I am confused on why I didn't have trouble with air pockets when I first installed the system. Everything was empty of fluid then, but worked fine when I filled it up and cranked it up. I believe it is a TC style pump, but I am not very knowledgeable on all the different style power steering pumps. I guess I will attempt to bleed the system somehow to purge any possible air out.

Thanks,
Danny
 
I jacked up the front end, and sawed the wheel lock to lock about 15 times while the engine was running. To my surprise, the fluid level in the reservoir dropped. I topped it off and took it for a short drive. It is now working correctly, and the pump is quiet. Thanks for the help.
 
Back
Top