How to bleed PAS

[turlock 0]

My steering's a bit iffy at the mo, can someone throw up a quick guide on how to bleed the system?

[davidwort 0]

undo the lowest point in the system (fill hose to pump?) and drain the old stuff out

reconnect hose and fill from header tank, prime the pump by winding pulley around by hand (need to slacken drive belt)

start car, preferably with tyres off the ground and turn lock to lock, filling the tank back up if it drains down and repeating lock to lock until the system stops making a horrible droning noise, that way all the air is out of the rack

check for leaks :)

 

you might want to unscrew the pressure hose from the pump and remove the pressure valve (keep the springs and bits in the order they come out)

and inspect the little gauze filter inside for crud

a second drain and fill may help to clean the rack out

[turlock 0]

Legend, thanks mate! :grin:

 

How will the air get out while I'm spinning the pulley if I've closed the system back up?

[davidwort 0]

Legend, thanks mate! :grin:

added a bit more info.

[turlock 0]

Legend, thanks mate! :grin:

added a bit more info.

 

So did I :lol:

[davidwort 0]

Legend, thanks mate! :grin:

 

How will the air get out while I'm spinning the pulley if I've closed the system back up?

 

you want fluid in the pump for when the engine starts, you can add a bit of fluid till it runs out of the pump the other side if you like (you'd need the pressure hose disconencted then), but the bubbles in the rack will simply disperse up to the tank with the engine running and the rack turned lock to lock.

TBH, when I did mine the fluid runs straight through the pump and didn't really need priming, but it's better to make sure it has some lubrication, most important on a brand new pump I guess.

[millerman 0]

i found that turning the steering (wheels of the ground engine not started ) primed the system really well as after the first time the pump was really noisy

did it a second time and the noise went really quick

[davidwort 0]

good point, going left/right without the engine running will gently push the fluid about in the rack and around the system I guess

[Toad 0]

I used a wire brush on a drill to spin the pump to get the fluid pumped round to start with.

[turlock 0]

Ok just thinking about this a bit more and went for a quick spin last night to get some sympthoms, basically the problem is that my steering feels a bit loose, best way to describe it is as if there's a bit of play in the wheels and they were moving slightly independant of each other.

 

I'd be drifiting to the right slightly and as I gently correct it you'd almost feel it fall over to the left and then start drifting left. Terrible description but tough to call.

 

I've read on here about bearings might be gone and also that the steering column should be replaced, any checks I could do to confirm?

 

Seperately (i think) I also notice now and again I'd be turning a corner and the power steering would drop off and become heavy, this would happen very rarely and that's why I thought bleeding it might help. Seeing as it should really bleed itself I don't think this is the case, anything else I could check?

 

Finally, I've recently put some 16" BBS wheels onto my C which is a G60, I used 5mm spacers all round, now both wheels on the right hand side of the car don't rub at all but when going hard right the back left seems to rub and when on a big lock (to the right) the front right rubs on the inside of the arch. I've been told the bushes could be gone causing this but I'm not sure that bushes could make any real difference to this, any general thoughts on this one?

[davidwort 0]

sounds to me like a combination of wobbly suspension top mounts, tired valves in the PAS rack and possibly track rods with play in the joints.

have you had anything like wishbone bushes and bottom ball joints ever done on the car?

[turlock 0]

In one word, nope

 

Could you put together a list of what I need to get, what you're saying sounds bang on and I want to try and get a sort of budget around work that I'm going to have to do. Really appreciate your help so far mate!

 

So far my list looks as follows:

Full polybush kit

polybush Top mounts (front only or front and rear?)

New power steering pump

New track rods and ends

Bottom ball joints (are these front only aswell?)

[davidwort 0]

most of this stuff you can check for play on the car, although play is often most noticeable with the weight of the car on things and driving rather than just you levering

 

for track rod inner joints (i.e. full new track rods) just hold the rod whilst someone rocks the steering on full lock (engine off), you'll hear and feel a clonk from the inner joint (where it screws into the rack) if it has bad play

 

top mounts, you'll really need to remove the suspension leg to check play, but if they are really bad they partially collapse and flop about as you steer from lock to lock

 

ball joints you can lever the appropriate bits with a tyre lever, that's all the MOT guys do

 

wishbone bushes you can see breaking up

 

front wheel bearings tend to make a horrid noise before they get play in them

 

the steering colum play is usually felt with clonks on the column when turning and general paly in the height adjuster mechanism

[turlock 0]

Sound, I'll give it a go this weekend and let you know how I get on )

 

Do you reckon my list of replacement parts sounds good? (They're going to have to be done at some stage anyway...)

[turlock 0]

Just to polish this off, Left top mount was completely gone so the wheel was moving around a good bit, right mount wasn't that bad but changed it aswell. I'd changed the PAS belt recently and the problem with the power steering was that the belt had broken in a bit and stretched so just needed to be tightened, doh! :brickwall:

 

Anyways cheers for the help lads!

[Supercharged 2]

Cool - cheers for the update, if the top mount was as bad as you say the car must have almost been undriveable!

[turlock 0]

Cool - cheers for the update, if the top mount was as bad as you say the car must have almost been undriveable!

 

Yeah it was getting that way so was only going very local with it, the bearings were gone on the problem one hence why I didn't notice dying over time