Frustrating Power Steering Problem.....

[kmank]

Greetings. Hope all are well.
My problem is with my power steering. About a month ago I blew my drive belt on my 95 Xplorer XLT. I had about a mile or so of getting back home without any power steering. After replacing the belt the steering started acting up. Steering became very unstable and unpredicable. Turning became difficult, had to fight wheel to turn and return to straight again. Auto Zone people told me (over phone) that I may have developed air in lines and to try turning wheel hard left and then right a few times. With no success I bought
and installed a new pump even after they told me it sounded like a rack n pinion problem. After researching r n p problems on the web and after giving mine a pretty good chk for any leaks saw there were none. Well, steering returned to normal somewhat, no more difficulty and wheels seemed
to want to return back to straight after coming out of a turn. I still felt something wasn't completly right. Well, after a month or so the problem has returned, abrubtly. Very Abrubtly.
After reading forums on this type of "stuttering (shuttering?)", hard steering problem I was informed, again, about the air in line prob. So I went and watched the videos about using a hand vacuum pump to remove air. So yesterday I went and purchased all "stuff" needed to construct and
use this method to remove this air. So I flushed out lines again with new fluid and hooked up pump.
Pumped out 20 lbs of vacuum and waited and watched as needle dropped to about 18-17 lbs and stopped there. waited for another 10 mins and then removed pump. Started car (Tires off and off the grnd) and turned wheel. NO CHANGE. Ugh. Still hard and stuttering. Hard lft to hard rght.
Put vac pump on again and tried again, this time when I reached the 17lbs I tried turning the wheels. as I would turn them the gauge would start dropping to 0. When I'd straighten them back out again the vauum would return to 17lbs. ??? Whats goin' on here? When I looked in the pump resevoir the new fluid got darker like the old fluid. I'm very confused here. I'm not quite ready to bring my Xplorer to a garage mechanic if there's something I'm missing to do here and if it is plain old air in the lines. Any help from anyone more knowledgable then me would be really appreciated. If I can get this thing fixed by your advice I will try to give what I can for your time to reply. Thank You. gk

 

[jremington59]

Are you by any chance turning the steering wheel with the vehicle not running? It sounds like air in the line to me.

 

[my98nnj]

Sounds like typical FORD air in the lines. You cannot turn the steering with the vehicle up in the air, FORD power steering doesn't like that. You also cannot turn the steering with the engine off, that will give you the death shake if you don't purge it.

Vehicle ON THE GROUND, ENGINE RUNNING. Drive at a crawl, open parking lot. Do several lock to lock steering wheel turns. You might have to repeat this over some time, maybe a day or two. Once all the air is out you should be nice and tight again.

 

[kmank]

Oh boy. Who knew not to turn steering wheel with engine off AND off the ground? Well, that definitly would be me so I guess I'm guilty as charged. So you think I should scrap the vacuum pump and just do the "lock to lock" steering wheel turns while car is moving (in parking lot)? Last thing: So when the belt came apart that drive home was basically like turning the wheels with the engine off, yes? Maybe one day I'll ask the question how air gets into this supposedly closed system in the 1st place. Thanx guys? Will get back to you both once I do what you ask.

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

FYI, driving it without a belt is effectively the same thing as turning the wheel with the engine off. If you have the ability to jack up the front end which it sounds like you do, do that, start the motor and go lock to lock about 20 times at a slow turning speed. Check your fluid for bubbles.

 

[kmank]

Mr. DiffWhackDaddy, that is some heck of a name but definitly all good. Really some good vibes from all you people who've given me your suggestions. Thanks much.

 

[elgoathead]

I had similar issues after replacing the rack. The only way to stop "the shake" was to turn the engine off.

I used a hand vacuum pump, engine running, turning gently lock to lock with a newspaper under each front tire to make the turning easier. It worked beautifully.

I've owned and maintained many vehicles: the Exploder steering system is the only one that would not give up it's trapped air without a fight.

Regards... Mike

 

[kmank]

Mike, thanx for your reply. Yeah, a fight it definitly is giving me. I thought I'd tried all the methods that you people here have given but there was probably one step I'd do that would screw up the results. When your under pressure mistakes always seem to get made. The Vac pump just seemed like a tool that would work IF its used right. Well, if I don't get heat stroke or called away I'm gonna try this bleed process again. Maybe a minute of silence for those who perished in 9/11. May they rest in peace. Peace

 

[jremington59]

All you need to do is drive around at slow speeds at first until the worst of the shaking is done. It may last off and on for a while but eventually it should straighten out.

 

[deweyville65]

Mike, thanx for your reply. Yeah, a fight it definitly is giving me. I thought I'd tried all the methods that you people here have given but there was probably one step I'd do that would screw up the results. When your under pressure mistakes always seem to get made. The Vac pump just seemed like a tool that would work IF its used right. Well, if I don't get heat stroke or called away I'm gonna try this bleed process again. Maybe a minute of silence for those who perished in 9/11. May they rest in peace. Peace

If your EX is like mine, it wants the fluid level above the full mark too. I keep mine nearly to the top if the reservoir neck. Very little air space between the fluid and cap. Don't ask me why, thats just how it keeps the pump noise down. If it gets to the full mark, the pump starts getting louder.

 

[kmank]

Driving this beast with the steering as difficult and sometimes scarey ( don't know if it'll lock up while making a turn ) is not something I want to do. I've yet to try all the suggestions that you all have offered since my first post telling of my problem. I'm really feeling positive that if I can do what I've learned and get it to not feeling like the wheels are shaking themselves off then I will start driving around, slowly and letting the air bleed itself out. Keeping the level up is also something I will try until I hear different. Thanx again to you all. Your help is not going un-noticed and is definitly appreciated. God Bless America. In memory of 9/11