[Roadkill3227]

Replaced my rack and pinion during my engine swap, then the power steering pump had a leak, ended up replacing it as well as the high pressure line that connects it to the brake booster. Leak goes away but now am left with bleeding the air out of the system. I've tried the vacuum pump procedure about 10 times and I've tried just manually bleeding the system. But air still continously comes out of the system when turning the wheel lock to lock. Also worth noting is the reservoir never seemed to go down when bleeding it, it actually seemed to fill up a little from the bottom. After doing the vacuum procedure with the car running, I'll shut the car off and turn lock to lock again. The steering won't spit any bubbles out for about 3 turns but the next turn and every time after that, bubbles will come up.

No visible leaks anywhere. When turning the wheel, it almost seemed easier when depressing the brake but that may have been my imagination. Other than that, I have no power steering ability or brake power when the wheels are on the ground.

I'm at a loss on what to do next, tired of bleeding and bleeding to get no results. If anybody knows what might be wrong or has any potential solutions, it would be much appreciated.

 

[Roadkill3227]

Update: reinstalled the old rack and pinion, same problem persists, air bubbles continuously coming up when turning lock to lock with engine off. Bled with the vacuum pump again and no bubbles seem to appear while engine is running which leads me to think the system is bled but don't know why I still get bubbles with car off...

On a side note, when the engine is running, braking while turning the wheel is definitely making the wheel turn easier. Although I found it weird that more bubbles seemed to come up (verified with vacuum pump) with the engine running and holding the brake and turning the wheel lock to lock but seemed to get little to none with engine running and not holding the brake.

Thus, bubbles only come up with engine off, turning lock to lock, and no brake or with engine on, turning lock to lock, with brake applied.

Very confused on what to do next, leaning towards replacing the hydrobooster but unsure. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Shauncb]

Was it fine before replacing the leaking pump?

 

[Roadkill3227]

The pump whined and the rack had a leak which is why I ended up replacing the rack. But even with those problems, yes everything worked decently.

 

[Shauncb]

So it sounds like you problem is one of the two things that you replaced, you said you already swapped your old rack back in with no change. So that leaves the pump....

 

[Roadkill3227]

I thought so too. I went out and got a power steering tester gauge loaner tool and connected it to the high pressure line that goes into the hydrobooster. Its reading 150-200 psi on a cold start and then bounces at a little over 200 when I Rev the engine to 1500. Which points to a good pump according to the specs listed on alldata unless I'm doing/reading something wrong. Think I'll try reading the pressure down at the rack and the pressure coming out of the hydroboost and go from there. I do appreciate your input and if you still think it could be the pump, please lmk.

 

[Shauncb]

From my quick googling powersteering pressure should be roughly 1000 psi, so sounds like you have a bad pump or pressure relief valve.

 

[Roadkill3227]

Okay this is gonna sound really odd. As I had the power steering tester hooked up, the instructions stated to turn the wheel lock to lock to build maximum pressure. As I did, the gauge started to show higher and higher readings and after a few turns, the steering became super easy and the pump began to whine... I ended up taking the tester off and hooking everything up as it is normally and lowered the car. To my surprise, everything was working again. I now have power steering and brake assist but the pump is whining pretty bad. Perhaps the overall problem was a clog in one of the lines or the rack and pinion finally bled fully?? I really don't know and it is very odd.

I do appreciate your input shauncb, I will likely do more tests to narrow down if I still need a new pump or not especially if the whine doesn't go away. But at least some of my frustration is over. Also if you dont care to post where you got the 1000 psi reading from, I'd like to read up on it to further pinpoint my issue.

 

[Shauncb]

The 1000 psi reading is just using the Google machine and putting in powersteering pressure.