MarcC723

Was driving my parents 00 SS to a job interview and right as I go to turn in, the steering makes an awful squeal and feels as if the p/s went out. I pop the hood to check it out and see belt jumped the pulley, and is partially spinning on the plastic P/S fluid housing, which has frayed the plastic open and is throwing p/s fluid all over.

Im a little perplexed at how this happened, as I'm an amateur mechanic at best. 14 years old but 18,100 miles. It looks like there's a 'bolt' missing in the center of the pulley. I'm able to spin the spindle by hand so it's not locked up.

I'm going to attempt to fix this myself. What im asking - is there anything I should specifically look for/at, is this a common problem or just an isolated issue? It looks like I'm going to need a new pulley and plastic p/s tank at the least.

Thanks for any input.

MarcC723

Any help? thoughts? It looks like the resivour and pulley need to be replaced. Im hoping it CAN be replaced and the pump isn't bad

illmanners

I have exactly the same problem but cannot find any resolution in any of the threads about power steering pumps. My car is an 02 Z-28 with less than 10K on the clock and when I fired it up this morning, I head a "clunk" so immediately shut it off, popped the hood and found the belt (in one piece, no signs of wear) just laying against the p/s pump. Looks exactly like the picture that's already been posted, p/s fluid everywhere. Pump, and idler spin free. Now what, coaches ?

TC94Z28

Although I can't explain the ps fluid all over, looks exactly like what I fixed a couple weeks ago on my ex wife's GM van.. The pulley broke and the metal center of the pulley is still on the pump.. I was able to rent a ps pulley puller/installer tool from autozone and pull what was left of the pulley off the pump and press a new pulley on the pump with it still in place on the vehicle... I think you should be able to get away with installing just a new belt and pulley as well... Can't say for sure if you will need to get the pump out of the car to do this, it depends on how much clearance you have to work with with the tool I mentioned.. It appears that the new pulley you need is GM part #12559885, if you search ebay for that part # you should be able to find a pic of one that is still intact...


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Cam's maro

I believe the stock power steering pulley is pressed on the power steering shaft. From the looks of the picture, the pulley's hub was crimped onto the pulley shell. Perhaps the failure was inherent to the poor factory manufacturing of the pulley allowing the fit between the hub and shell to become week over the years. I also believe that the fluid leak may be attributed to the pulley wobbling for a while (perhaps mant days before it finally let go all together) and contacting the plastic power steering reservoir rubbing a hole in it, not the belt. Hopefully over the last 14 years parts manufacturers have tightened up there standards a bit and your replacement parts will serve you for many miles. I wouldn't think anything else caused the issue other than the poorly made pulley. Good luck

GaryDoug

Looks like a bit of work there. You may have to remove the power steering cooler to get more room to work. To help, you can download a free 2000 F-car service manual here: http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti
I agree with "Cam's maro"'s analysis above.

illmanners

Thanks to everyone who commented and thought I'd get back to the group to hopefully shed some light for the future.

Even though my car has very low miles, (less than 11K) it is still a 12-year-old automobile that has not been driven much and age of components is a factor. Coupled with that the design and composition of the power steering pump and pulley are less than desirable for almost any application where more that about 200 HP will be used.

While GM V-8 applications use a 6-groove pulley, the four-groove pulley used on 4 and 6-cylinder cars is basically the same pulley as other than the top groove width to accommodate the 6-groove serpentine belt and the accessories it must run, the diameter of the pulley and the fiber-thermoplastic composition are the same. Add to that the practice and method of robotically pressing a fiber-thermoplastic pulley on to a serrated shaft with the potential of applying robust engine torque at low RPM and it appears to be a formula for failure.

Since everything else seemed to be okay, I contacted Junior with Turn One and picked up one of their pumps with the aluminum pulley pre-installed. It arrived in two days, took about an hour to install and a 16MM flare-nut wrench is indispensable when removing/installing the high-pressure power-steering hose.

Again, thanks to eveyone..Illmanners..

2002 Z-28 SLP Car

MarcC723

Thanks for all who took time to respond. For some reason it didn't notify me via email about the responses.

I ATTEMPTED to replace the pulley today, and after a few hours and frustration with GM and their s*** designs, I think Im just going to order a different style pulley so I can install the pulley with the PS pump OFF the car, then install the entire pump again vs having to install the pump, then press the pulley on with 4" of space.

First off, the radiator hose is in front of the pulley, so had to take that off. and this stupid plastic clip holding the radiator hose is directly where you have to put the pulley puller. I'm not sure if it's the amateur mechanic in me, or what... but for the life of me I couldn't get that pulley puller to push the pulley back on. Between the cramped space, everytime I tried to get it on, then clamp down, it never pushed it on. I despise the 'pressed on' design.

On top of that, I noticed on the new pulley there's a small chip on the BS plastic pulley, typical crap material GM puts on their cars (no wonder they are almost bankrupt and kept having to recall their cars )

Don't mean to come off like an a-hole or anything... just very frustrated. Obviously I'm doing something wrong... but it doesn't SEEM like I am. Now that I see this crack, I tihnk it's easier to just buy the other pulley and put it on while it's off the car

MarcC723

If you look where the shaft is, you can see the plastic clip that makes working on it that much more aggravating.

Injuneer

Virtually every PS pump pulley I have ever changed, on many different manufacturer's cars, has been pressed on. This isn't some GM subversive plot to screw up the world.

MarcC723

I haven't done a lot of PS pulley, but I can say the other one I did (nissan maxima) was secured by a bolt instead of pressed on. It came with it's own difficulties, but one of them wasn't that frustrating "pressed on" mess.

I thought a lot of foreign cars don't practice the "pressed-on" method, thought that was more of an american car thing. Maybe not..

mrsdaisy

do any local parts stores sell a pump with a pulley on it?

Marc, how did you press the pulley back on there?


tks

Injuneer

MarcC723 has not returned to the site since his last post above. You might want to try an e-mail. Left click on his screen name, and there should be an e-mail option on the drop down.

pkincy

I think you need to buy the pump with the pulley. I solved the problem with a Year One pump. Steel pulley. The problem with the plastic is that the PS fluid when hot transfers so much heat to the pulley it eventually comes free.

Happened to me the first time I ever did a track day in my 98 1LE. A guy there the same day with a brand new 99 SS had the same thing happen. This was in late 98. Haven't had a problem since.

BTW, until you get the pump a Truck 7.4 L (old truck) belt will fit around all the other pulleys minus the PS pulley as it is just enough shorter. Made it all the way back from Vegas 98 (West Coast F Body gathering) to SF using one. A bit harder to turn but it will work.

MarcC723

My apologizes, I have been working a ton and haven't had time to log on since you replied. I'm not sure about the parts stores selling the full PS pump/pulley combo - I do know some sites online do (turnone does).

I ended up buying an all metal pulley from turnone. I believe the guy below me meant "turn one" not year one. Local part stores (advance auto, autozone, oreilys) will "rent" a PS pulley puller/installer (you pay 40-50 for the tool, bring it back and get 100% of your money back) to pull the pulley off or press it back on if you just need to fix that. At this point, I kind of wish I had just done that then replace the plastic container, then the pulley.

I will say - it has been a royal pain in the a$$ to get it pressed back on. Between getting a tool to press it back on that the center screw had been sheered off - to not being able to get the center screw to thread properly in the center. Im sure my amateur mechanic ability isn't helping the situation - but some of it has been out of my hands also. Everytime I try to clamp the screw down, it won't grip in the center and comes loose. I believe it may need to be retapped in the center.