How I replaced my power steering pump-many photos. | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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How I replaced my power steering pump-many photos.

Dennis1188

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
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City, State
West Lafayette, Indiana
Year, Model & Trim Level
96 Sport, 4.0 OHV
96 Sport 4.0 OHV

Decided to change my own power steering pump after dealer quoted me a price of 450.

Did it myself for fewer than 65 bucks.

Let me just say right from the start that this was very easy and if I can do this, anyone can and should plus you will save big bucks.

I will explain how I changed the pump and I will also explain how I flushed out the system… an option you may want to consider.

This was done on a 96 Sport so this may not work on other model years and more importantly; I am a newbie with very little mechanical experience so please keep this in mind.

You will need to take the belt off the power steering pump pulley and jack up the car.

I decided to take the wheels off so I can have easy access to everything.
I also took off the rubber shield in the wheel well, it is only held on by several plastic clips.
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Now I have easy access to the bottom of the steering pump. It has two hoses connected to it.
The top hose with the two nuts is the high-pressure line and I only disconnected it from the outer nut.
The lower hose is the return line and I used pliers to crimp the metal tabs while I slide the clamp down without pulling off the hose just yet.

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IMPORTANT:
I pulled the lower hose off with my left hand and with my right hand quickly covered the hole with the plastic cap that comes with the new steering pump. This helps prevent a really big mess of leaking power steering fluid. The high pressure line did not leak much fluid.
You can see in this photo the little black cap.

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Another view

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Remove four bolts (circled in red) from the top of the compressor.

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You may also want to pry out this plastic clip (see end of screwdriver) holding a bunch of wires.

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OK
Move ac compressor out of the way the best you can.

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Next you will remove three bolts (circled in red).

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Now you can carefully wiggle out power steering pump along with the bracket and this is what you should have.

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Now it is time to take off the pulley and you will need a special tool for this job. Autozone gave me one to use and DID NOT CHARGE ME. All I had to do was leave a 35 dollar deposit which they gave me back when I returned the tool.

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The kit is very, very easy to use and in this photo I have the puller already in place, now all I need is a little muscle along with a couple of wrenches.

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Pulley came right off... real easy and in less than three minutes.
Now you can remove the old pump from the mounting bracket by taking off three bolts (circled in red).
NOTE:
Transfer the little black cap shown in this photo from the old pump to the new pump. This will prevent any leaks from the return line opening.

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Here is a photo with the pulley on the new pump. I changed over to a different type of screw that is included with the kit and pressed on the pulley onto the new pump, very easy.
JUST REMEMBER: Mount the new pump on the mounting bracket before pressing on the pulley.

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OK
That’s about all there is to this job, real easy.
Wiggle the new pump with the mounting bracket back on the engine.
Install the three bolts to hold the bracket.
Install the four bolts for the compressor.
Connect any loose wires and clips and put the serpentine belt back on.

Now all you have left are the two lines, the high-pressure line and the return line.

I decided to wrap a small amount of Teflon tape on the high-pressure line before screwing it into place and that seems to have worked out for me as I do not have any leaks.

Now for the return line hose.

Option One:
With the return hose in my left hand I used my right hand to remove the cap over the drain plug and quickly inserted the return hose.
With a pair of pliers squeeze that little metal clip and raise it into place.
Fill the reservoir with power steering fluid.
Have a helper start the truck and slowly turn the wheel from side to side while you monitor the fluid level in the reservoir.
Do this for about five minutes.

Option Two:

I wanted to flush out the entire system so this is what I did.

First: Keep that little black plastic cap in place on the new pump to prevent fluid from draining out the bottom of the pump.

Now the return hose drops down very conveniently in front of the truck.
I took a pair of vise grips and ever so slightly pinched the end of the return line. When the engine is started, fluid will flow out of this line and I wanted to reduce that flow so that is why I pinched the line. You may come up with a better way but the point is to slow the flow down just a little.

I placed the return line inside a 5-gallon bucket.

I was very lucky and had several helpers. One started the truck up and slowly turned the steering wheel from side to side.

Another monitored the bucket to let me know when the fluid turned clear.

And I continuously filled the reservoir with fresh fluid.
Use a funnel... it really helps.
Also, have several bottles of new power steering fluid ready to go... caps off and close to you.
After four quarts the return line was filling the bucket up with clear fluid.
I turned off the engine and positioned the return hose close to the pump.
With the return hose in my left hand I used my right hand to remove the cap over the drain plug and quickly inserted the return hose.
With a pair of pliers squeeze that little metal clip and raise it into place.
Fill the reservoir with power steering fluid.
Have a helper start the truck and slowly turn the wheel from side to side while you monitor the fluid level in the reservoir.
Do this for about five minutes.
Later that day I sprayed that part of the engine compartment with two cans of cleaner and hosed it all down... nice and clean.

So there you have it… the power steering noise is all gone and I saved enough money to do my shocks next.

Have A Nice Day
:)
 



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Epic.

Mine howls, just might have to follow suit and replace the pump.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 












Wish I could say mine is going this smoothly. Started last night and still working on it. I can't get the aluminum bracket with the a/c compressor and the p/s pump out of the engine compartment and I can't get the pulley removal tool in between the radiator and the pulley itself. Does the p/s steering pulley have three bolts on it or am I working on the wrong pulley? I have the 4.0L SOHC, not the same engine in these pictures.
 






Wish I could say mine is going this smoothly. Started last night and still working on it. I can't get the aluminum bracket with the a/c compressor and the p/s pump out of the engine compartment and I can't get the pulley removal tool in between the radiator and the pulley itself. Does the p/s steering pulley have three bolts on it or am I working on the wrong pulley? I have the 4.0L SOHC, not the same engine in these pictures.

Are you taking the pulley off while the pump is still attached to the engine? If you are, it would be alot easier to do it after you took the pump off and got it on a bench or something.
 






Wish I could say mine is going this smoothly. Started last night and still working on it. I can't get the aluminum bracket with the a/c compressor and the p/s pump out of the engine compartment and I can't get the pulley removal tool in between the radiator and the pulley itself. Does the p/s steering pulley have three bolts on it or am I working on the wrong pulley? I have the 4.0L SOHC, not the same engine in these pictures.

Can you post a photo showing us the problem?
 






Are you taking the pulley off while the pump is still attached to the engine? If you are, it would be alot easier to do it after you took the pump off and got it on a bench or something.

That's what I would've liked to have done, but it turns out we didn't need the removal kit at all. To update, we took the radiator out (needs new coolant anyway) to get a better angle and went through the three holes in the pulley wheel itself to remove it from the pump. After that, we got the pump lose from the bracket and started to losen the high-pressure line going into it, at which point we had to stop because I had work. Biggest concern at this point is that I ordered the wrong pump, it looks like it was meant for the OHC, not the SOHC. I say this because there's a large tube going into it that closely resembles the lower part of a OHC resservoir, whereas the SOHC has a seperate resservoir. I'll post pictures in the morning
 






I'll take better pictures tomorrow morning but this is just one I happened to take today to show my friend's dad/my mechanic, you can see the holes in the pulley wheel we went through with a ratchet to take the pulley off-
 

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Very interesting, and good to know that the compressor will move enough to get to the pump without purging the system.
 












nice right up. you should also say this is for the 4L OHV. a SOHC is different.

SOHC? He is sayin he's got a 24V DOHC...lol. Agreed..This is for the 4.0 OHV
 






SOHC? He is sayin he's got a 24V DOHC...lol. Agreed..This is for the 4.0 OHV


Hmmmm....
The Truck had a badge on the side that said 24V DOHC??

24dohc.jpg
 






After further research and thanks to input from this great forum, it seems that someone must have glued those two badges (24V DOHC) on the truck long before I bought it.
You just never know what your getting when you buy a used vehicle.:scratch:

PS
The above photo shows a black truck but I changed the color after I bought it.
:)

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251011
 






After further research and thanks to input from this great forum, it seems that someone must have glued those two badges (24V DOHC) on the truck long before I bought it.
You just never know what your getting when you buy a used vehicle.:scratch:

PS
The above photo shows a black truck but I changed the color after I bought it.
:)

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251011

Yea it looks like someone took some of the badges off a Sable or a Taurus. Those were for the optional 3.0 24V DOHC Duratec V6 found in the Taurus/Sable. Nice work on the restoration. Very impressive!
 






my steering wheel is just really hard to turn, could this mean i need a new pump or is that how it was back in 99?
 






my steering wheel is just really hard to turn, could this mean i need a new pump or is that how it was back in 99?

Are you running stock size tires? Wider tires will make it stiffer.

Have you checked the fluid level in the pump? Low levels will also make it stiff.

Can you see any leaks? Power steering rack might have bad seals. Engine cleaner & a rinse, then watch the system, or place cardboard underneath, and check for drip location.

Whats the color of your fluids? Clear is clean power steering fluid, clear red is ATF. Either works. Dirty brown or black needs to be changed out as the fluids have lost their working hydro properties.
 






Awesome. I'm about there too. Will I encounter issues if I don't want the AC compressor back in there..since it's dead? Great write up. Thank you!
 






Power sterring pump removal for the pushrod motor

This is on a 91 explorer4x4 xlt 4.0 and to simplify some of the steps, you can remve the fan shroud if needed to access the pulley. Once removed, you don't have to remove the whole bracket assembly for the P/S and the A/C. Just remove the 3 bolts holding the P/S pump and it will slide out the back saving you from messing with the A/C........ I am doing mine in the next couple of days and I will post pics....:)
 



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Pump update....

Ok, so I was right about being able to get the pulley off without removing the bracket. It wasn't that easy so I decided to remove the bracket to make it easier to re-install the pulley onto the new pump (don't think it could be done with the pump installed in the bracket and bolted back up to the block). So I agree with the original post.....follow his steps and remove the bracket. It also gave me a chance to remove all of the gunk that was all over the bracket from the leaking fluid........:salute: P.S.: It would be nice if someone that knows the torque specs for the bolts involved in this project could post them and have them added to the original post....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 






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