77 Jimmy Power Steering Air Intrusion Problem

[Joel Wilson]

Recently rebuilt my SBC 400 and replaced almost all of the attached accessories, including the power steering pump. When I did, I added an inline filter and an eternal cooler. Because of the location of the winch, I had to put the cooler somewhere else besides in the front of the radiator. I tried on the inner fender well but, that ended up being just above the resevoir and caused all kinds of problems. So I added the tube cooler just under the driver side door next to the frame rail where is was protected by the side step and a chunk of metal screen from work. The line goes from the outlet of the steering box to the cooler and then to the pump. I've tried to bleed the system the best I could by adding fluid as soon as it started howling and also by bleeding the system with the front end lifted off the ground and running the steering lock to lock at least 15 times and I STILL get a crapload of air back into the resevoir. Am I missing an O ring somewhere or a gasket? I have never had this much trouble with replacing a power steering pump before so any help is most greatly appeciated.

Joel
norcal

 

[Wes Harden]

do you have a remote reservoir? is filter before the the cooler? do you see bubbles in reservoir? you need to have the return line into the reservoir below the fluid level or returning oil will introduce bubbles. the factory can shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Joel Wilson]

Everything is below the attached reservoir. It goes from the power steering pump to the steering box to the cooler back to the inline filter and then to the pump. Filter is not much, just an inline magnetic filter. Cooler is 24" tube heat sink cooler from Summit. I will double check everything again tomorrow but the only thing I can think of is an o ring somewhere.

Joel
norcal

 

[Capt Ron]

You might try this... while on jack stands with the engine off and reservoir cap loose, turn the wheels lock to lock by moving the wheels not the steering wheel. Move slowly lock to lock about 4 or 5 times. That is how I bleed the air out of my systems and it has worked every time.

 

[ktmoutfront]

The system is always under pressure, even the return side. So sucking air due to a missing o ring would not happen. It would be leaking. With as much line as you have, it will take a while to fully blead the system. Pictures of the layout might help.

 

[Joel Wilson]

Here are some pics. Still kinda dark outside. 1st pic is off the cooler mounted under driver side floorboard. 2nd pic is where lines go thru the frame from cooler back to the pump. 3rd pic is off filter which is kinda hard to see.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Did you fill the lines and cooler before connecting them to the box and pump? If not, that is a lot of line to get 100% of the air out of. Also, without a reservoir sitting high above the system, no natural way for air to bleed up.

It is just going to take a while to blead your system. And every time you foam the fluid, you are starting over.

 

[6872xtc]

Can you take the cooler off of the frame and get it tilted so that the outlet back to reservoir is higher than the inlet? I don't know what those coolers look like inside, so maybe it is holding air that may purge better with some incline to it.
And I agree with @ktmoutfront , that will take some time to bleed, and if it howls at all, you have sucked air.

 

[Joel Wilson]

Can you take the cooler off of the frame and get it tilted so that the outlet back to reservoir is higher than the inlet? I don't know what those coolers look like inside, so maybe it is holding air that may purge better with some incline to it.
And I agree with @ktmoutfront , that will take some time to bleed, and if it howls at all, you have sucked air.

I will try that in the next couple days, or at least make sure that the return line from the cooler is going uphill back to the pump. I tried it again today and manually, I didn't get any air bubbles back to the reservoir. But once I started the engine, it didn't whine at first, but it did eventually as I was going lock to lock and I did get foamy fluid and when I shut it down, I did get some good sized bubbles in the fluid.

Thanks for all the tips. It's been greatly appreciated and hopefully I can return the favor somehow.

Joel
norcal

 

[Joel Wilson]

There might be some extra hose in the system, but as far as I can tell, it all flows uphill back to the power steering pump. I started the Jimmy again after fixing a few other problems and it took longer before the growling whining noises started so it is getting better, it's just taking a long time.