Power Steering Not Working?

Hi guys,

The steering on my 300tdi is suddenly very heavy making it extremely difficult to reverse onto my driveway.

How do you know how much fluid should be in the reservoir for the power steering? I'm guessing the bit that protrudes from the bottom of the cap acts like a dip stick and has a min and max marker? If this is the case then there's plenty of power steering fluid.

Have looked under the car and can't see anything bent.

I can't see how it would be related but just in case... Last night I over-tightened the handbrake, went for a drive, and after about three miles realised there was smoke coming from the drum. Looks like an oil seal has gone. Anyway, I drove back home again and parked up, at which point the steering was fine. I just slackened off the hand brake and went for a drive only to find the steering is like this.

new pump id think ,is pulley driving but shaft not

Glyn D said:

How do you know how much fluid should be in the reservoir for the power steering? I'm guessing the bit that protrudes from the bottom of the cap acts like a dip stick and has a min and max marker? If this is the case then there's plenty of power steering fluid.

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Cheers

Have given the UJs on the steering column a good lubrication.

My missus couldn't turn the steering, so whilst I went from full lock on one side to full lock on the other several times, she said the fluid in the reservoir may have moved but if it did then it was only about 1mm.

Glyn D said:

Have given the UJs on the steering column a good lubrication.

My missus couldn't turn the steering, so whilst I went from full lock on one side to full lock on the other several times, she said the fluid in the reservoir may have moved but if it did then it was only about 1mm.

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did you look at pump shaft

In novice terms please James, where's the pump shaft?

Belt checked?

top most pulley is water pump the one directly below it is pas pump,pulley sits on a boss held by 3 bolts boss is pressed onto the shaft and you can see the end of it poking out of boss

Belt was recently done by a garage.

Shaft on the pump is spinning.

Glyn D said:

Belt was recently done by a garage.

Shaft on the pump is spinning.

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ok,its not unusual that the boss turns but shaft doesnt fully,it doesnt sound like its pumping though still

New pump then?

Have you tried bleeding the steering box?

So I just tried bleeding the steering box...

No air bubbles, but, turning left pumps fluid out of the bleed nipple, turning to the right sucks the same amount back in again (with the engine running). Or to put it another way; with a transparent tube connected to the bleed nipple, going from lock to lock just makes the fluid go up and down to the same level in the transparent tube.

If the pump was working would there be a continuous flow of steering fluid?

Glyn D said:

So I just tried bleeding the steering box...

No air bubbles, but, turning left pumps fluid out of the bleed nipple, turning to the right sucks the same amount back in again (with the engine running). Or to put it another way; with a transparent tube connected to the bleed nipple, going from lock to lock just makes the fluid go up and down to the same level in the transparent tube.

If the pump was working would there be a continuous flow of steering fluid?

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with the pump running you should get a good constant flow out of it.

My power steering would randomly get very stiff some 2 years ago. The shaft in the pump had failed. If I recall correctly there was a small key on the shaft which was completely worn. Only when it occasionally caught on the pump internals did the pump start to build pressure, hence the random dropouts in power steering. One of those things where you only know after you open it up. Don't bother fixing it, buy a new one. Ask me how I know...

Pump just arrived so here goes nothing...

Presuming it's just a case of slacken off the bolts. Empty the system of fluid. Slacken off the belt. Replace pump. Tighten everything back up. Bleed system to make sure there's no air.

Anything else I should be aware of?

Glyn D said:

Presuming it's just a case of slacken off the bolts. Empty the system of fluid. Slacken off the belt. Replace pump. Tighten everything back up. Bleed system to make sure there's no air.

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Haynes manual says to remove the radiator fan first, and not to drain the system but instead use hose clamps.

Fingers crossed...

I had something similar back in December and it was fixed by a new power steering pump. Everything was rotating, but it obviously wasn't assiting the steering. The old one had built up quite a cake of oil and road dirt around it, so had been leaking slowly for a while. I seem to remember it's more or less self purging when you run it for a while and turn the steering from side to side, so you may not need to bleed. Put plenty of Loc Tite on the bolts that hold the power steering pulley onto the pump because, as I discovered, they tend to come out. Most of the fluid stays in the steering box so in just taking the pump off you don;t actually lose that much.

i would drain the fluid out and replace with new if it was me, you dunno what bits of crap got into the systems that might cause havoc!

Glyn D said:

Pump just arrived so here goes nothing...

Presuming it's just a case of slacken off the bolts. Empty the system of fluid. Slacken off the belt. Replace pump. Tighten everything back up. Bleed system to make sure there's no air.

Anything else I should be aware of?

Click to expand...

bleeding isnt necessary just turn from lock to lock a few times and top res up,unlike brakes the fluid circulates in one pipe and out the other