rst08tierney

About 3 months ago I replaced my power steering control valve. Things were fine until my power steering pump stared to make a bunch of noise and fluid started showing up on the ground. Right now I almost have zero power steering unless I top off the pump with fluid. I just wanted to make sure its the pump not to p/s valve because of the fluid on the ground

FYI the pump is over 10 years old

gjz30075

Couldn't tell you if its the pump or not but you might want to try a bottle of Lucas power steering fluid stop leak. Worked for me on a different car.

toolwench

If it's making a bunch of noise, it probably has bearing problems. When the engine is running does the pulley on the front roll around perfectly or does it wiggle at all? If it wiggles, the pulley or the shaft could be bent which would put strain on the bearings, causing a lot of wear and noise. Over-tightening the belt can cause that. It sounds like the pump needs to be replaced, but make sure that if you re-use the old pulley, that it's still straight or it'll wreck the new pump.

The leak... well, that might just be a loose fitting somewhere under there.

stanger53

It is not unusual for the pump to make some noise when under load or if turned to full stop, but if it is whining all the time, then the cam pack inside the pump is scored up, and maybe the thrust plates on each side of it too.

There are no bearings inside the Ford pump. The shaft rides on an aluminum bushing. The shaft can run dry and score the bushing up, but I have never seen one that was so loose that it would cause the pump to make noise.

It is easy to bend a pulley, but the shaft is short and stout and I have never seen one bent. The kind of force needed to do that would probably crack the front casting the shaft mounts in.