Fishv12

Good afternoon,

Well long story short my rack failed on me when a seal let go while driving. So I replaced the rack and high pressure hose. It felt really hard to turn such as it wasn't getting enough pressure at idle so I changed the pump figured it was old anyways no luck. Then I replaced the VES selenoid and it made a huge improvement at idle but the steering was still way too hard to turn for my liking. At this point I figured it had to be my new rack so I got a new one and put that in. New one seems all fine except I am getting steering shudder which vibrates the whole car. Tire pressure, and alignment was done so it can't be that. I used a mighty vac to pull all the air out of the system like recommended in the manual. The shudder will be much worse when the car is cold but intermittent when the car is warm. Doesn't matter which direction the wheel is turned. At this point I am playing with brand new parts and I don't think I can flush the system some more! What can it be? It's driving me literally insane. I am going to try a drive belt change since I had an old one in good condition which I was keeping as spare just to see. Next in line I was thinking about changing my brand new pump again... Although I really don't quite understand.

Fishv12

Well the drive belt change didn't do anything. Same result. I just picked up a replacement pump and going to give that a go. After driving it for a few days I have to say the shudder is a little less intense but still present. The effort of turning the wheel is by far greater than it used to be so I am hoping the pump change is going to offer a solution.

95wannabe

iTrader: (20)

I'm not familiar with your CTS system, but I just put a hi pressure line on an 02 SS this weekend and it shuddered and yanked the wheel back and forth so bad we had to shut the motor off.
Long story short, we had the front-end off the ground and just kept working the wheel lock-lock until we seen the bubbles quit coming up in the reservoir. Engine not running during this. Started it back up and all is well.
Sounds like you've already done everything to combat the air, but with a helper, you might try this just to see if any more air comes out.

Fishv12

Wow interesting never thought about doing this with engine off. I'll give it a try when I go to install my new pump to get the air out. At this point I am pretty sure I don't have any air in the system or at least I would highly doubt it I have been driving the car for a while. The shuddering has reduced but it's still very unpleasant. Also it seems like the steering is harder to turn than it was initially leading me to think there is a problem elsewhere. I am playing with all new parts everywhere now so it's just to figure out which one is faulty.

gaskill

I agree with 95wannabe. Quite replacing new parts and get air bled out of system.

wrencher

iTrader: (2)

Cannot remember if those early CTS's P/S reservoir has a screen.
Remove it & inspect it thoroughly.
It can be full of garbage from component failures.

Also check all your return lines cooler etc...
The pressure line you installed OE replacement or?

Fishv12

Good morning all,

First of all a little more info. My neighbor is a mechanic and has access to lots of cool tools so before I changed my first pump he borrowed from one of his buddies a p/s pump pressure tester. It revealed 1500psi at idle like it should but it would drop. So this is the reason since I had problems with my very first rack that I replaced the pump which made no improvement although we figured we ruled it out.

Another note is that these racks are Cardone units. I cringe my teeth every time I purchase Cardone and well it's all that was available to me at the time Cardone rack and pump. I try to stick to AC/Delco if I can for p/s stuff such as racks and pumps.

Wrencher:
Good idea on the P/S reservoir. I have been thinking about a filter although none are sold for my car it doesn't mean some kind of screen isn't in there somewhere. When I replace the pump I will remove the reservoir completely as well this time around. I have not replaced the return line but it very well allows liquid to flow out nice and free so I didn't really think anything of it. The hi pressure line is new and is an Edelmann.

Gaskill:
I have done everything to remove air from the system and at this point after driving the car for such a while the air would be out by now unless I had some kind of leak. The manual indicates to use a mightyvac and put vaccuum on the hose cap of the p/s reservoir which I did for several hours even! No improvement.

Fishv12

Update: I have now replaced the pump a 2nd time while doing that I have used Dex III for the fluid as specified for US cars whereas canadian cars call for p/s fluid go figure. Since the rack comes from the states and the pump was purchase locally but I am sure there is no difference between the canadian version and US as the part numbers match. I have taken out the reservoir and indeed there was a screen in it although it wasn't clogged or anything like it I gave it a good cleaning using a whole can of brake fluid. The return side of the p/s has no flowing problems I made sure of it by running a clear line into a drain pan from one end of the hose and running the car flushing the whole system at the same time.

Now if that isn't it the last thing I can think of is the rack or the high pressure hose I really can't think of anything else. I am too tired to drive the car tonight it's almost 3am my time! I will report back tomorrow please wish me luck.