2000 Exploder sport 2wd power steering

[Chrismut06]

Ok, here's the issue, I hope someone has some insight. 2000 Explorer Sport 2wd 5 speed with a 4.0. Issue is power steering quit. Wife was driving yesterday, heard a "pop". I drove it when I got hope and couldn't find anything unusual. Next day, she has NO power steering halfway home from work. Full of fluid,( there is some fresh fluid wetness, but it has not lost any major amount of fluid. There is just a couple of 4 inch round wet spots under it on the driver's side near the ball joints.) Belt is on and working properly. No whining at all. When idling, you cannot see fluid in the pump circulating. I cannot figure out if it's the pump, the R&P, or something else. We just replaced the pump 5 months ago with an O'reilly rebuild. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[J_C]

When you wrote that you "cannot see fluid in the pump circulating" do you mean the pump reservoir is empty? If it ran empty for long it may have chewed up the seal and you could need a new pump (or new seal kit if it doesn't have a warranty) even if not the original problem.

I would take another look trying to find where the leak is, possibly one of the hoses sprung a leak but if you become sure neither is leaking then the rack is what's left.

A different strategy would be that if it's the rack you probably want to put new hoses on at the same time anyway, so you could get hoses now and replace them, then if that doesn't fix it, proceed to get a new rack. The two hoses together are only about $25 to $30 delivered from Rock Auto for Sunsong brand, or a few more for Gates.

 

[donalds]

That rack better have a warranty sucks of you have to remove it

 

[CDW6212R]

Find the fluid leak, and what is it?

Squeeze the rubber bellows on the two ends of the rack, gently. Those should never have fluid in them, they are simply dust shields. If there is any fluid, the rack is going bad and has to be replaced.

The fluid in the PS reservoir should be near the top, maybe an inch down is normal. There will be no noticeable flow, the container is deep, and the outlets are near the bottom. If the pump was replaced recently, the fluid should be fairly transparent.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Usually the rack doesn’t just give out entirely all at once. If it’s bad, it’s almost certain to leak.

 

[Chrismut06]

Hey guys. First off, I want to say I appreciate all of the comments to help me fix the ole lady's car. Now, for what was wrong. It had a 5 month old rebuilt (Oreilly) pump, and prolly the original rack and pinion. It turned out to be...……… Wait for it...……..The power steering pump pulley. The pulley had separated and was spinning without turning the pump. $19.00 pulley fixed the issue. WOOHOO! I didn't have to change the r&p! lol. The pump was not leaking, and the r&p was not leaking, and I just couldn't figger it out.