Barney1987

Hey,

I'm new to this forum. I appreciate any help in advance

I apologize if any of the questions have been answered . I saw some general answers but just wanted clarification.

I have read through many of the questions already which has been a great help as I recently changed my power steering high pressure hose and also ended up having to replace the reservoir as I snapped the small plastic part when removing the return hose.

After replacing the above ( taking the timing belt off etc ) , I turned the car on, the power steering pump is vibrating and making a loud noise and got extremely loud when turning the wheel. I think I saw some smoke too but I think that was some of the excess fluid heating up on the engine. I'm not too sure. I immediately turned the car off and then realized I should have bled the hose lines which I did not do. I purchased the car a few months ago and did not know it doesn't have a jack as its lifted. Before I go out and buy a jack and stands to lift the wheels, do you think the air is the issue? I did see that the fluid turned a white milky color when it made the noise. Its gone back to normal color now. I know the wheels have to be lifted but I was worrying all night that I have ruined the car so was up early and wanted to just try and turn the wheels on the ground with the key turned once. It was pretty much impossible to turn. I can't remember if before I changed the parts, that I was able to turn the steering wheel when the key was turned ( engine not on ) as now it is rock solid but is normal when the car is running. Is this normal or should it be easy to turn ? The noise isn't as bad this morning after turning it with the engine running and the cap off. It's also not vibrating crazy now but I'm not driving it until I get it sorted. I also noted that after turning the wheel multiple times with the cap off and then turning the car off and putting the cap on and turning it back on, there was quite a loud hissing noise for about half a second as air seemed to be coming out somewhere.

Thanks so much again. Any other tips to look for would be great. I checked all the hoses and the threads. The new hoses I got have slightly longer threads but still seem to be in ok with the new o rings.

My jeep is a Cherokee XJ 2000.

Thanks

Jim Malcolm

Worse case scenario you caused extra wear to the pump. You've already replaced the reservoir so you've got half the job down pat...

At this point, you may very well have gotten all the air out, maybe not. If it still looks good after running it this morning, you're likely fine to take it for a short drive around the block a few times, checking the fluid every once in a while to see if it's milky. Ideally you'd lift the tires off the ground and do it, but, a majority of the damage is done at this point...

It's extremely hard to turn the wheel at a rest without the engine running. I'm not saying completely impossible, but very difficult for even the biggest guys...

IJM

It sounds like you didn't bleed the air out of the system, so the pump is churning up the fluid and making it all frothy. It makes a hell of a racket in the process, but the pump is probably fine.

Once you get the jack situation sorted, raise both front wheels off the ground, add PS fluid until it's full, and with the engine off, turn the steering wheel lock to lock in both directions several times. Top off fluid as necessary. With the wheels still off the ground, start the engine. If it's still noisy, shut it off and check the fluid level. It probably dropped, so add some more until full. Restart the engine and again turn the steering wheel lock to lock several times. Keep doing this until all the air is out and add fluid to keep it full. This should solve your issue.

Barney1987

Thanks so much both of you for getting back to me . I'm keeping my fingers crossed that will resolve it and I haven't totally damaged the pump. Thanks again !

awg

if the sound was a lot like "hammering" that will be air in the hydraulics

have something under your vehicle to prevent any spillage