Power steering comes and goes.

[hunterguy86]

My power steering comes and goes on my 86 K5. This started the other day when I was cutting some donuts. I remember cutting donuts and then hearing the pump squeel some. I let off the gas and straightened out the wheels. At that point I had no power steering.

I parked my k5 and went to bed cause it was late. The next morning I checked my fluid, which was full. I started the truck and I had steering again. I've been drivin it since. The powersteering seems to come and go. I lose it ususally when I have been driving the truck and everything warms up.

So what did I do? Did I burn up the pump? Should i take a hose off and drain the fluid and put more in and then bleed the air? Any other advice?

 

[Jason4x4]

make sure your belt is tight, and not glazed

 

[hunterguy86]

Ya I checked the belt. It is tight and the pump does not make any squeeling noises, like it would if the belt were lose.

 

[Leper]

I had to replace a pump on an 85 because, at idle, the pump did nothing. Rev the hell out of it and it worked.

 

[diesel4me]

probably not the pump...

A power steering pump either works,or it does not,usually--no "intermittent" power assist or lack thereof ..if it were the pump you'd hear it whining like it was low on fluid,or the belt squealing..

I'd guess you have a partial blockage in one of the power steering hoses, or the box itself perhaps,or the pressure relief valve in the pump is sticking or has a broken spring,allowing pressure to by-pass the steering box and dump back into the pump..foamy fluid with lots of air can cause this also,overfilling is a common cause of that..a bad power steering box can cause "lumpy" steering ,even with a good pump too...

 

[jamber2541]

x2, when I rebuilt my engine I took the time to clean everything else including the power steering pump and you would not believe how dirty those things can get.