gc_caddy Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 I was turning into my garage and then I heard a loud noise followed by loud rattling and significant vibration, felt through the steering wheel. The steering effort also increased somewhat. After parking, at idle, the noise and vibration can still be felt through the steering wheel. If I turned the wheel either way, the rattling and vibration changes but is always present. Carefully using a wooden broomstick, I located the vibrations to the power steering pump and reservoir. Perhaps broken bearing inside? Car is a 94 STS. My questions are: - When a power steering pump finally fails, are these the symptoms? For years, the pump made hissing noises that I thought were typical. There was no warning of the problem. - If I do replace the power steering pump, anything I should be wary of? I don't think it's too tough a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_caddy Posted January 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Replaced the pump with a Cardone remanufactured one. Rattling noise is now gone. It works smoothly and quietly. I had to get the special pulley puller/install tool - the one with 2 halves and sleeve which clamped over the hub. I could not remove the pulley using hand tools! I managed (difficultly) to get O'Reily's to remove it via their electric impact wrench. They didn't want to do it for me citing insurance reasons, etc. But in the end, I did managed to convince them to help me. Installing the pulley onto the new reman pump was done easily via hand tools (wrench and socket) though. I did use a lot of bearing grease on the shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_caddy Posted January 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Replaced the pump with a Cardone remanufactured one. Rattling noise is now gone. It works smoothly and quietly. I had to get the special pulley puller/install tool - the one with 2 halves and sleeve which clamped over the hub. I could not remove the pulley using hand tools! I managed (difficultly) to get O'Reily's to remove it via their electric impact wrench. They didn't want to do it for me citing insurance reasons, etc. But in the end, I did managed to convince them to help me. Installing the pulley onto the new reman pump was done easily via hand tools (wrench and socket) though. I did use a lot of bearing grease on the shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Glad to hear the repair was successful. I'm not sure why the parts store's insurance co. wouldn't let them remove the pulley? The worst case is they would have broken the pulley and then would sell you a new one... Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc_caddy Posted January 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Yep, I told them that I wouldn't hold anyone accountable should anything break. In the end, the puller tool's threads did get galled up. The threads weren't greased up, as the instructions recommended. No big deal since I could still use the tool to install the pulley onto the new pump. Also, I only needed to use the tool once (finger's crossed). The next day after my successful replacement, I returned the tool for a full refund. Got back my $30! I just said that the tools weren't hardened properly and got the refund with no questions asked. After several days, the power steering pump still works perfectly. I'm pretty happy with the repair. Glad to hear the repair was successful. I'm not sure why the parts store's insurance co. wouldn't let them remove the pulley? The worst case is they would have broken the pulley and then would sell you a new one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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