Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

92 SVX (04/91 mfg date) Just installed a reman pump from Rock auto. Pump made its lil bit of noise while the air was bleeding out. After about 20 seconds of running it blew the pressure side hose. Tossed a spare hose off my 95 on it and now its doing the exact crap the OEM pump was doing. Hardly any assist at all. I when through and replaced all the O-rings on the pressure side, and replaced the res. o-ring again (tried different thicknesses because the stealership up here doesnt stock the o-ring.

I've dealt with a ton of subaru's over the last 15 years, never seen a car do this. It was always replace the pump or replace the line (if they ever did wear out, rarely happens up here in AK) Even with the OEM pump I blew the return line off numerous times @ -60F during the winter and the OEM pump came back to life once the system was sealed again.

I have a spare rack/pinion in the 95, I think its still good, car was driving when it was wrecked. Do the racks ever fail on these cars? (only seen inner and outer tierods fail)

Any and all ideas are appreciated otherwise I'm gonna yard out this motor and swap it into my 98 Outback with a 5 speed

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

I replaced my rack 2 times due to leaking. Also, make sure you have the hose on all the way and the clamp is on between the hump and the resevoir.

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

yeah, that was one thing double checked. It doesnt really appear to be leaking, which has me stumped. I cleaned off the engine completely, put cardboard on the ground and ran it while turning the wheels back and forth for 10 minutes and didnt see any leaks.

The speed sensitive part wouldnt keep the pump from making full pressure would it?

One thing I thought of was to get rid of the cooler lines. I dont see a reason for a power steering cooler in Alaska, not to mention all that extra hard pipe. But that wont increase pressure because its on the return side of the loop.

This is one of the few Subaru problems what has me 100% stumped. Unless the reman pump was junk to begin with?

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

Are you sure the fluid is circulating? Look up how to flush power steering fluid from the 'how to' section/steering.

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

Have you checked the crank pulley? When it is starting to slip, sometimes the first symptom is steering related. Use whiteout or a paint pen to put a stripe across all 3 layers of the pulley. After running for a bit, check to see if the line is still together.

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

highly doubt its the crank pulley. its been replaced with a MY99 EJ251 crank pulley. I'll mark it just for ****s and giggles, but if it was slipping, my alternator wouldnt be charging either correct? When I broke the OEM pulley, power steering kept working, alternator wouldnt charge.

And trust me the system is flushed, I pulled the return line off before I replaced the pump and flushed about a gallon and a half of ATF through there.

Yes it did circulate when I put the new pump on, but once it blew the pressure side hose it was shut down immediately and the the hose was replaced. I have never been a fan of remanfactured crap because I've seen more reman stuff dead on arrival than I have complete failure of OEM Subaru stuff. OEM parts are limited, where I live because the stealership has their heads so far up their asses, they dont stock ANY common subaru parts. They didnt even have axle roll pins in stock (which IIRC fit EVERY year/make/model that Subaru ever built from 1980-2007)

Once the Outback is titled and insured this afternoon, I'm gonna put the car on some big jack stands and yank the rack out and put my 95 LSI rack in it.

Can someone explain to me how the LSL/LSI speed sensitive steering works? I doubt thats the problem, but the two wires going to the sensor in the pump are frayed down to a few strands of wire left so its got me wondering if thats the problem? One would assume that the sensor would the valve fully sitting still for full assist and then slowly close the valve as speeds increase for tighter/stiffer steering?

Re: Power steering issues continue, new pump installed
 

OK, it pumps out of the return line. But are you sure the fluid goes back into the pump when it is connected? If the piston in the pump was put in wrong then it would build up pressure. This was my experience when I rebuilt mine.