aggiebutter

iTrader: (6)

after changing it myself the first time i decided to take it to a shop and let them change it the second time. Everytime it got changed it would work for about 2 weeks and then crap out. It only works when I'm moving quickly or I rev then engine up. After the shop changed it, the belt began squeaking (or so I thought. SOMETHING was squeaking). I bought a new Delco pump and began taking the old one (less than a year old) one off. I noticed the shop had put about 4 washers on one of the mounting bolts. When I put the wrench on it , it was almost finger tight! I took the bolt out and this is how it looked.

aggiebutter

iTrader: (6)

I went to the dealership and bought 2 new bolts. They are shorter and thicker with more threads than the ones these "mechanics" put in my car. I can't believe they did this. A little while longer and the bolts would have snapped and i'd really be screwed.
Now, when I put the OEM bolts on, I noticed that the left one doesn't tighten down. it gets to a point where it seems almost tight, and after another half turn it loosens up
ANY IDEAS PLEASE??????

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

i am not intimately familiar with how the power steering pump mounts to the engine, but it is just a belt driven accessory and nothing complicated. Whatever bolts hold it on need to be clean, have good threads, and be the correct size both in thread diameter, thread pitch, and overall length. If the bolt is too long it'll bottom out bolting into the block and not secure the pump. The holes in the block accepting the bolts need to be clean also, if this is your third pump I would do the following:

1) first, it sounds like there is mounting problems. look over every bolt that has been touched when removing the pump. Get a thread chase if you can and clean out every bolt hole in the block, or at least get a clean bolt and thread them in and out and use some compressed air to make sure every hole is clean and the threads are good. If you have a bad hole you'll need to tap it to a larger diameter thread and get a new bolt for that hole, not a big deal. But you have to be certain of the thread diameter and pitch of the holes in the block to be sure you're using the correct bolts. You said you bought 2 new bolts that are shorter and thicker, so right there tells me there's a screw up with that.

2) measure the length of each bolt, then see how far it threads into the block before bottoming out. Don't just assume because you got the bolts at the dealer that they are the correct ones! Mount up the pump and make sure the bolt will tighten down on the pump bracket and the bolt won't bottom out in the hole. The pump and the corresponding bracketry all need to be secured by said bolts, and said bolts need to be torqued so they don't vibrate loose over time. To many of us this is all simple knowledge but to a shop monkey who only cares about getting the job done as fast as possible will overlook or not even consider things like this, and fail to fix these underlying problems.

3) Once you're sure the pump is mounted properly, and there should be no washers or shims between the bracket and the block (because that will upset the alignment with the serpentine belt) check for proper alignment of the pump pulley with the belt. You'll need to install the belt and get your head in there to get line of sight. As best you can see if the belt looks straight on the pulley, or maybe measure distance from the belt to the block at various places. My point here is try and make sure you don't have a bent bracket that's upsetting belt alignment, also look at the belt and see if there's any obvious indication of abnormal wear.

4) once your sure the mounting is correct and there's no alignment problems, what caused the previous pumps to fail? at the very least you should flush the whole steering system, it is a hydraulic unit and any debris in there will simply cause future failures of parts, the first to go is usually the pump.

aggiebutter

iTrader: (6)

Hey Thanks for all the great advice!! I went to the dealership and bught all new replacement bolts to be safe. I just finished installing and test driving. The whine noise is gone and so is the tough steering! It looks like the problem with the other two pumps is that they came from Autozone. This time I went to Nappa and bought an AC Delco. I will do the flush next just to ensure that there are no problems with the fluid.
Thanks again!!!!

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

i would not assume the problem was it being an autozone brand pump, not that I'm saying they are good or better than delco but having 2 fail tells me there's a problem causing it to fail. ideally you would want to pull the old pump apart and see what failed in it and determine what caused it to fail. hopefully it's just dirt and debris in the system so get it flushed as soon as possible, or run the engine as little as possible till you get it flushed otherwise you're just killing the new pump. How old & how many miles on the car?

Blue01T/A

I have had a lot of problems with GM Reman parts lately. 5 alternators and 6 starters. I finally got fed up and demanded I get new (not reman) parts and voila! No more problems. Just a thought.

aggiebutter

iTrader: (6)

Thanks I will take this advice seriously. I think we'll go ahead and change the rack also. The car is a 99 with 103,000 miles on it