Power steering will_not_work AHHHHH should i destroy?

[jt1583]

Ok so my power steering hasn't worked since swapping in a used KA24DE. I drove the car for about 2-3 months with nothing hooked to the rack.

Then I replaced the pump with a junkyard unit, no difference. So I figured I broke the rack when I drove on it without fluid.

Just replaced the rack with a low mileage S13 rack that I'm not 100% sure if it worked or not, I took it from a donated S13 from my high school auto shop, a few years back.

I have bleed the hell out of it, lift up the front, lock to lock, with the car on and off, while revving/idle, everything. I just lowered it after going lock-lock at least 50 times, and it's hard as hell to move at idle. It feels better when I'm driving, even better than after doing the pump, like the rack is trying to assist me when I turn one direction.

Is there an intelligent way to go about diagnosing/fixing these things? I hate spending time and making a mess for nothing. I'm looking into depowering my old rack and just doing that, this [email protected]#[email protected]# [email protected]#[email protected]#! sucks. Why can't my car just be easy and normal?

[codyace]

Do you have the lines hooked up correctly?

240sx's seem to be awfully difficult to bleed when starting new. I like to 'sit' on the lock for a second when going back and forth. Slow and steady.

[jt1583]

The 2 fittings on the driver side of the pinion housing on the rack are different sizes, so it shouldn't be possible for me to mix up the high/low pressure sides. My high pressure hose is hooked up closest to the front of the car, which I believe is correct.

I also don't think I can mess up the hoses going from the reservoir to the pump/rack. I used to have this setup with a CA18DET pump and it worked great, not sure if that could cause issues.

I have driven it more since the install/attempted bleeding, and it feels a lot better than the old rack/same pump, at speed. When still, it sucks and I feel like there is no assist.

I'm not sure how full the rack was before installing, but the old rack leaked so I had no fluid in the reservoir, pump and rack. I only added 3/4 of a quart, how much is typically added?

Could another failure/problem in the system exhibit symptoms like this, ie; good response at speeds and poor response at idle?

Thanks for annnyyy help I am pretty lost on this 1.

[h815 240sx]

I may have a similar problem to you, hope you dont mind if i chime in. But i just replaced everything like you, bled it and what now. But did you have a problem with when you first turn the car on your steering is really stiff, but once you go lock to lock it loosens up?

[jt1583]

Good, the more involvement the better.

Mine doesn't noticeably free up if I go lock-lock then try it. It's always a bitch at idle, definitely not the 9 lb of force the FSM states should turn the wheel.

I just tightened my PS belt and still no luck. I'm also not seeing ANY change in idle when muscularly cranking the wheel from left to right. I'm going to check the return loop from the rack-reservoir that runs in front of the front subframe. Is this loop necessary?

How often do pumps go bad? This is my 2nd pump, so there is a good chance the first wasn't bad and this one is (junk yard pump). Aren't they simply a disc with slits for the sliding fins? If a pump doesn't leak and the internals look good can I assume its working?

[codyace]

The loop that goes along the frame rail is technically a oem 'cooler' for the line...hard to say how much it actually works, as my car used to make strawberry milkshake after a track day...until I added a secondary cooler.

True on the fittings as well...I did forget that as I typed it...you'd know isntantly if they were wrong haha!

Aside from that, it's hard to really determine what may not be working....usually if a pump fails they begin to groan/whine/leak/sieze (or any combination of them all).

Does the wheel stutter at all as you turn it? Or it's just simply hard to move at idle?

[jt1583]

Pump doesn't exhibit any of those characteristics. The wheel doesn't stutter at all either, it's just a PITA to move. I think I will go test drive a for sale 240sx to see how it should feel, I've got no 240 friends.

I got a friend to turn the wheel during my bleeding procedure, and as he turned from left to right the fluid in the reservoir went up to near the top, then slowly went down as he kept still. No bubbles at all, and it was easy to turn while the front of the car was jacked up.

Anyone on the mechanical rack conversion think it's a good idea? I'm reading through the 5 page thread (http://zilvia.net/f/chat/215942-last-depowered-rack.html) here to help me decide if it's a good idea. Ugg I hate cheap, shadytree solutions like this just cause it's a PITA to diagnose/fix.