Has anyone had a bad power steering pump or one that died and how did you diagnose it? 99 corvette
I asked on the corvette forum but figured i ask here as its the same mechanical part.
Since i've had the car for 7 months the steering has been somewhat difficult or close to the same with the car off and car running.
Just the other day after removing the rack and pinion to do a balancer, cam swap i had put the rack pressure and return lines back on and car still suffered from the same difficult steering issue. Once evening i took the cap off the pin whole or vent in the top flows freely and started the car the power steering was fully functional. I ran up to autozone an hour later and the power steering was functioning to get out of the driveway but once i made a turn in to autozone i noticed the hard steering again.
Is this signs of a bad pump someone told me they function like a mechanical pump with the wheel turning usually a bad bearing noise similar to a water pump. Someone else told me theres a bypass valve in the pump and it could simply have a broken shaft that doesnt turn mechanical part of the pump or be hitting the bypass valve constantly not power steering. I've removed the pressure return line with the car off and on and it does flow fluid with the car running and removed the reservoir and pump line from reservoir and no clogs its clean inside. All the fluid i got out of the reservoir and return line were clean.
I hate to throw money away on a power steering pump if something else is the issue it is the original 99 power steering pump and does have a slight marbling sound as maybe the bearing is low on grease but other then that it doesnt whine or anything maybe it is bypassing the fluid constantly but did fully function a particular given time and does flow fluid from the rack return line.

 

Tell us what's going on.
Is it leaking anywhere? Is steering getting stiffer? Making noise?

 

No it doesn't leak anywhere i had just removed the rack and pinion or both pressure return lines to do the balancer, cam swap and put it back together. It doesn't whine or anything like its low on fluid and doesnt have any leaks. I check both the return lines and reservoir feed line was clean inside. I thought maybe a dirty or brittle falling apart old hose but i dont think thats the issue. I haven't removed the pressure line on the pump or the rack as its difficult to get to without completely removing the return line from the rack with the wheel off just the one time when i had removed the rack and pinion.
The rack does have a manufacture or refurbished date upc sticker from 2009 and pump appears to be the stock 99 pump.

Steering has been the same stiff since i've owned the car with the car running and with the car off. There is a slight marbling sound left in the engine bay that i believe is the old original power steering pump bearings. Someone told me they replaced the rack and pinion one time but had an air pocket that need to do the power steering reservoir vacuum pump to get it to completely bleed the air out and was hard steering until he vacuumed it out. If the steerings been hard since i've bought it either it his the bypass valve in the pump i think they have one but only thing i noticed is that the power steering did fully function one time since i've owned the car and that was after 50 miles of driving with the cam swap to see how it ran on the stock tune part throttle, surging and to confirm the cam install went correctly. The previous owner did replace the water pump but the last issue im having is the power steering issue that its always had. I already spent funds replacing bad torque tube couplers, rear tires, cracked brittle surge tank, changing fresh fluids, alignment, alt decoupler pulley and the balancer was the factory c5 balancer which is known to walk off the rubber so i replaced it. Im just now trying to get to the power steering issue its always had and hvac blend door actuators.
I've put maybe 150 miles on the 1839 cam, balancer swap to see if it would surge no WOT just part throttle to see if it would run and make sure cam install went correctly and if the power steering issue would sort itself out. I still need to get the car tuned either a mail order tune or local tune shop but hate to waste the money on a new power steering pump if that isn't the issue as im saving funds for a tune.

 

There is this bypass valve in the power steering pump. This is off an f-body ls1 mine is a 99 corvette but i expect it to be similar havent pulled the pump off yet requires alternator bracket removal. I think the pump pressure line is 400-500 psi or something in that range but if its clogged or whatever it will have this bypass valve and not pump fluid.

 

as you have pulled off the bypass valve you can see there is not much to it....you can remove yours and soak it in lacquer thinner to loosen any particles that may be in there
the valve can be adjusted for different pressures...what pressure the vettes are set at i have no clue
the outer rotor and vanes may be simply worn and unable to keep the required pressure needed....as well as the many internal seals no longer sealing
i do advise against auto store remans...new or remans should be sourced from reputable vendors...i recommend Turn One ...a sponsor here....or PSC motorsports in azle Texas...the only 2 I can recommend
I do not know if vettes have a PS cooler but its a must have in my book to keep the fluid from cooking the pump....a inline PS filter is also a great idea along with using synthetic PS fluid exclusively
for pics of what goes on inside your pump...check out my rebuild thread

 

Check out sjsingle1's pump rebuild thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...pair-pics.html It's very instructive on how these work.

You could have some bad vanes, but I would suspect a stuck bypass valve, as you are suspecting. I believe the C5/C6 use the same style pump.

 

Yes someone else is suspecting a stuck bypass valve as well. It does pump fluid from the return line from the rack with the car running but im not sure if its not providing full pressure from the ps pump and just bypassing or cycling what little fluid. Yes i seen the c5 and c6 share the same ps pump. Someone told me the rack and pinion wouldn't go out it would either have a leak at either end would be the worst case so i dont think the rack and pinion is bad. Another person told me if there was any bubbles which it did have a few tiny bubbles that there was air in the system that you could maybe use a vacuum pump on the top of the reservoir to pump the air out. Usually turning the wheel side to side cycles the air out of the system.
I may try the rental vacuum pump from autozone before purchasing a new pump. I think ill just get the 50$ ebay pump for 97-13 c5/c6. They include a 1 year warranty but that is a bad deal if you were to get a faulty cheap pump because of the labor.
There is a 21$ ps pump return line 3/8 filter but does anyone know where to get a better cheap alternative. Some people had stated new dorman or replacement pulleys needed to be honed out or wouldnt press fit over the new reman pump. Im going to try and use the original pulley if it doesnt get damaged removing it from the current stock 99 pump.
Autozone wants 96$ for a reman endurance pump with lifetime warranty or 50$ is the best price for the reman or new ebay pump with a 1 year warranty.
When i checked the reservoir and return lines all the fluid looked clean. The cap says use power steering fluid other gm caps say use correct atf dexron 3 fluid or whichever.
The pump is older i had regreased the idler, tensioner pulley, and a new alternator decoupler pulley which was making a marbling sound from under the hood the last very faint marbling sounds to be coming from the original 99 power steering pump. It doesnt whine or anything when turned either way but only thing i can think of is that the bypass valve is stuck bypassing fluid.

There is a ps cooler but its just 20" of metal 3/8" line that turns into a regular crimped return line about 40" total in length from rack to the return reservoir.

 

The internal seals on the piston of the rack could be bad, but that would be an uncommon failure. If there are miles on the pump or you don't know when/if the fluid has ever been changed, the pump/bypass valve is where I (and it looks like most others) would put their money.

 

The car has 92k miles but is a rebuilt title i had the engine apart and the thrust plate was less worn then a 98 z28 i had with 169k miles so im suspecting it is a lower mileage motor. All the belt bearings were long on grease i replaced the decoupler pulley that had a marbling sound and has a new water pump. The only thing left is the original ps pump with 92k that does have the only last bearing marbling sound i think but it was wrecked up front no telling if they did replace some accessories. Now the power steering did function fully at one time a few weeks ago after the cam swap but after 5 miles went back into the hard steering. It was the first time i had the power steering working the 7 months i've owned the vehicle so its hard to say if bad rack seals or a bypass valve that was stuck open then closed and back to stuck open.
When i get the funds ill pull the ps pump off to examine it. The fluid looked clean but the ps pump itself was full of grime on the outside inside the hoses were clean.

 

Definitely the bypass valve, then. A bad rack is a bad rack 100% of the time.

 

I had steering that went stuff on a newer vehicle checked everything, no leaks, pump oil was fresh and clean. Finally figured out it was the universal joint on the steering shaft.

 

A universal steering column shaft joint for the rack and pinion?

 

The U joint on the steering shaft was bad.

 

Is there any reason not to order the 50$ ebay power steering pump? They have a one year warranty im not sure if they are remans or new manufactured partsgeek and rockauto want 96$ + the core the same with autozone.I read somewhere the dorman or replacements pump pulleys were not within spec and had to be honed out to fit over the replacement pumps.
You may be right not to buy cheap ebay parts on certain stuff as i had purchased a 20$ ebay ls1 map sensor when i had a turbo 98 z28 that i guess couldnt handle 6-9lbs that blew out sensor causing the timing to jump back and forth down to 16.5 with the afr wideband reading from 10:1-18:1 for a week while i was driving to work would cut out the engine as if it had 4 cracked spark plugs from installing headers up underneath with the plugs still installed. The 98 f-body flashes an ses light for cylinder misfires. Im not sure if i found that out at night with the hood open and arcing out of the spark plugs i think.

 

I wouldn't put any value in an eBay warranty at all. I thin it all boils doen to something simple.

Do you want parts that come from this kind of shop:

Or this kind of shop:

 

They do have them advertised so you would be curious who all purchased one and if it worked lol. Rockauto has them but you would have to send them the old one to get the core fee.
Is it possible that the new duralast pumps are similar to ebays? They are new and dont require a core fee so were manufactured somewhere and duralast is good stuff. Duralast New Power Steering Pump 63106N (autozone.com)

So before purchasing a new pump is there anyway to confirm if this one is indeed just stuck with the bypass valve? A broken spring or clogged port in the bypass valve or what to look for when removing and dissassembling the pump to maybe see whats wrong. I think its the bypass valve and not just worn out veins as i think it wouldnt have worked the one time it did before going back into hard steering.

 

Just remove the valve, on mine its threaded in uses a regular socket.
I would bet its grunged up or the spring gave up.

 

No matter where you buy therm from, the cheap pumps will be "remanufactured" in a dirt floor sweatshop somewhere far away. No doubt they will "work", but building a part in a clean environment and paying attention to detail pays divedends. The cheap pumps are probably not polished clean when re-assembled, could have worn parts re-used inside them, and could have sandblasting and other dust in the housing.

If you need a rebuild and are going to keep the car for a long time, you can send your pump away to a place like TurnOne. You will pay more than going to a parts store, but you will know where your pump has been, it will be clean and tested, and you can get the pulley upgrade, which will allow you to take the pump off (for other work on the engine) without needing to yank the pulley.

You gotta drain the fluid, take the valve out, and then clean it. You could probably hook a bunch of pressure gauges up to the sytem, but it woud be easier to just clean the valve.

 

Someone told me there could be air in the system. Since i've owened the car for 7 months the steerings always been hard as the car running and off. Its worked 2 times and that was after i removed the power steering pump lines from the rack and pinion to do a balancer/cam swap on a c5 corvette. The car was sitting for a week as it had a flat tire today i had patched the tire and started the car the power steering was functioning for the 2nd time since owning the car and that was only after replacing the cam a few weeks ago. I was able to snap a video to see what other think and why it would revert back to hard steering. It may go back into hard steering so i dont know what the issue is someone told me the rack is dead once its dead and something maybe with the pump or system need vacuumed.
The only times its functioned is the 2 times i've pulled the cap off and started steering the vehicle. Any idea why this would occur?

 

Really dont want to purchase a new pump unless for sure thats the problem? Ever had a power steering pump that would function sometimes and not at other times. I am just about to maybe get a tune from frost or pcm of nc mail order speed density if not a local ls tuning shop this was the only issue i wanted to get resolved before getting the tune.