legacycentral bbs

if i turnr all the way to the right or left from stop to go the steering wheel and care vibrate hard . has anyone had this what could it be? please help

It's probably your PS pump getting old and tired like mine.

It happens to me usually after the car has been running for more than an hour...

Well, in general you're not supposed to hold the steering wheel at full lock for more than a few seconds in any case.

subyluvr2212 - Did you try just changing out the power steering fluid by any chance to see if it made a difference?

Is it an auto? If so, you may be experiencing torque-bind. There's a few other threads about this and they're all bad I hope it's just the steering though.

-Brian

vrg3 wrote:Did you try just changing out the power steering fluid by any chance to see if it made a difference?

Inform me how I completely eliminate all of the fluid from the whole system. I can easily siphon what's in the pump reservoir, but what about all the fluid in the rack-and-pinion???

it happened first when i got new tires and then dissappered i just got them rotate for the first time and its back

subyluvr2212 wrote:Inform me how I completely eliminate all of the fluid from the whole system. I can easily siphon what's in the pump reservoir, but what about all the fluid in the rack-and-pinion???

Hmm. Good point. Well, I suppose one way would be to disconnect the return line from the pump and catch it in a bucket. Then you could run the pump, slowly fillingit up with new fluid while it dumps the old fluid.

Huh. It would be neat to get a return line from a wrecked Subaru or something (cut off of the steering rack) and bend it so that you can make the pump suck in from a vessel of clean fluid. I would guess that would more or less approximate the machine that shops use.

Or you could replace the fluid in the reservoir, drive for a while, and repeat. Done enough times that could replace nearly all the fluid, although it is wasteful and expensive.

is our pump the same as other subarus reason im asking is thers one on ebay for a 95 legacy and one for a 2000 impreza?

vrg3 wrote:Well, I suppose one way would be to disconnect the return line from the pump and catch it in a bucket. Then you could run the pump, slowly fillingit up with new fluid while it dumps the old fluid.

This probably sounds like the best way. Similar to a radiator flush. I might try this soon.

The capacity of the pumps are probably the same, as are the hose locations and such. But the reservoirs are definitely different, and it wouldn't surprise me if the bolting pattern to the block is different....

91scoobiesubie wrote:is our pump the same as other subarus reason im asking is thers one on ebay for a 95 legacy and one for a 2000 impreza?

The pumps are different, the biggest difference is the reservoir. The bolt pattern is also different. However it is not difficult to modify the brackets that hold the pumps to work with different versions of the pump. If you can get the pump and bracket as a combo, it would probably all fit in w/o trouble.

MK

Some years have the same pump reservoir as ours, but different mounting points. But i am fairly certain that if the reservoir is different it won't mount w/o modification.

MK

The pump mounts to a bracket, and the bracket mounts to the engine. Is it possible that you just need to get the corresponding bracket in order to use a later model pump?

mk750 wrote: If you can get the pump and bracket as a combo, it would probably all fit in w/o trouble.

MK

I think that would work

MK

91scoobiesubie wrote:it happened first when i got new tires and then dissappered i just got them rotate for the first time and its back

check all your tire pressures

mk750 wrote:

mk750 wrote: If you can get the pump and bracket as a combo, it would probably all fit in w/o trouble.

MK

I think that would work :)

MK

Oh, heh, oops. I need to read more carefully.

On another note -- if you do decide to flush the power steering fluid the way I described, you probably shouldn't use the engine to run the pump, just in case it pumps too fast or runs dry. It'd probably be better to turn the pump by hand with the belt removed, or maybe by unplugging the fuel pump harness and using the starter (so you can stop it right away).

The only problem with disconnecting the return line is that in order to get the fluid out of the rack, you need to be turning the wheels.

If you really want to do this, and do it safely, I'd probably jack up the front end.....get some friends to help. Have one get in the car to do the steering, get a drill hook it up to the pump some how, that's friend #2's job. Then you get to collect the fluid from the return line. Start the drill up, have friend in car turn wheel slowly. Have 3rd friend watch the level in resevoir

what tire pressure are you guys doing