Thread: Advice please!!!

G'day Lindsay

Is the PS pump pulley Loose ??

Is it actually the PS pulley that is out of alignment with all the other pulleys ??

When my tensioner started wearing I had similar symptoms and half a belt probably wont get you far (didn't get me far )


Where are you

Stevo

Dunno if this shows you anything .............

your pump shaft may be RS and the pully mount may have ridden forwards putting everything out of line..

depending on how strong your arms are will depend on how far you can drive without powersteering but I generally would not reccomend it.

I think I'm having the same problem. New belt I fitted a few weeks ago is chewed out on one side (not much) and the power steering pump pulley looks further forward than all the other pulleys. What's the go with that?

Thanks Steve and Dave
Yeh its defiitely the PS pump pulley out of algnment with all the others and the tensioner is fine as far as I can tell. And, there is no fluid leaking...I think I'll leave the car where it is until I get a diagnosis. Do have to get to work tomorrow somehow...???? What would be the worst case scenario if I drove it do yo think??

cheers

I have driven a car with the power steering pump not connected. Drove it like that for 6 months. At speed it was fine but was ultra painful in parking lots. You could do it for the 70km but test the steering behaviour away from other traffic first. Leaving it long term will cause the seals to perish so it will then leak like a sieve.

The easy way out is to drop the belt off of the steering pump and keep checking the power steering fluid, so long as the tank is full the seals will stay wet and your not hurting anything.

things to check

1 is the pully simply out of alignement IE on an angle as the pump mount bolt has broken and the whole thing is twisted?

2. with the belt of can you turn the pully by hand?

3. is there any signs of wear or movement on the visable part of the shaft between the pully mount and the shaft seal?

4. is there anything else wrong with the alignment of the pulleys on the rest of the donk?

if the pully is square the pully turns and there is a visable wear mark on the shaft somewhere all thats happened is that for one reason or other the pully mount has moved on the shaft (thats the good version) or the shaft has slipped inside the pump and been pushed outwards (and thats the bad version) Either can be fixed but by the time you pay for the labour its cheaper to bolt on a new or reco pump.

Drive the 70km home to the local mech, no worries, no leaks. New pump is the verdict. I will let u know what the cause of failure was after he pulls it off in the next day or 2. Drove it on his advice that if it is not leaking then the box and seals are wet and so no harm to anything. ..as Dave also said.

One of the mechanics at the shop showed me a 92tdi he just bought. 300k, tight as a drum, neat and in good nick....$3200!!!!