Chevy & GMC Vans

Beautiful day, I'm cruising along, carefree and happy. I smell something burning. Thank goodness that's not me, I think. I hear this groaning noise and vibration(which dissappeared) and then, no power steering. When I went to look, the the hood release broke from under the dashboard(I did get it open eventually though). The entire engine area and front end was covered in power steering fluid. I carefully drove home. I put some fluid in, started it and bent over to observe. A fine spray of fluid sprayed me in the face and my glasses. The power steering hose(high pressure side) apparently became weak, relaxed and leaned into the fan belt, eating a hole in the hose. It then leaked the fluid on the belt and gave my engine a bath. Oddly though, the power steering pump seems all right(I will find out Saturday when I replace the hose). Shouldn't the pump have burned up from the lack of fluid on the drive home? There was no strain on the engine at all.

It depends.

How much did it take to top it off?

Quote from Lifted, from a 98 Astro FSM...

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:According to my FSM, you bleed the system by jacking the front wheels off the ground and with the engine off, slowly turn the wheels from lock to lock all the way at least 20 times. Start by turning full left and make sure the reservoir is at the cold level mark.

I would do a complete flush and bleed and go from there. Make sure the EVO is connected on the pump itself. There is an electrical plug.

Not sure what is meant be the EVO reference. Quote can be found in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5205&hilit=bleed+power+steering

Good Luck, Jim

astroturf wrote:It depends.

How much did it take to top it off?

I just put a small amount, about 1 pint in, to locate the leak and the chattering dissappeared momentarily. When the leak initially started, it appears that it pumped every last drop out of it. It was a bear to make a turn. I didn't hear any more chattering or smell any more burning smells on the way home and that did seem strange. Thanks for the info about flushing and bleeding. If I am able to save the pump, now will be the time to get all new, quality fluid in there. The hose is fairly easy to put on, so I will do that. I also noted, from your link, that routing the hose a little different(under the low pressure line), will keep it from getting too close to the belt. Hopefully I may be able to reuse the pump. Thanks for the link.

I would use the old pump. There was probably enough lube left in it to keep from burning it up. Maybe the belt was slippery enough that it didn't hurt it.

Yes, the belt was quite slippery. It has, what looks like, a couple of burn marks on it. What a mess! Also, I remember someone posting pictures(may be on the old site) of the same thing happening. The front bolt on the hose loosened very slightly causing the hose to change position and lean against the fan belt. So, next time you are out there, get your 18mm open end wrench and give it a good tightening, for prevention sake.

I got the old hose off, but am having trouble lining up the new hose. Is it advisable to bend the metal part of the new hose to help line it up? It feels extremely stiff and does not feel like it has any flex in it.

Yes...it is OK to bend the new hose. It helps if you have pipe benders. They prevent kinks.

I'll check around, see if I can borrow one first. It appears that I only have to make a small bend. Thanks

Not only does the pump still work, but it sounds better than ever!! Fresh fluid I'm guessing.

One correction to a previous post. If your power steering hose is perilously close to the fan belt, then it probably is not routed properly. That's what happened in my case. The bolt came loose and the hose was under a bind to go toward the belt. Unfortunately, I remember installing that hose about 9 years ago, so, no sense blaming anybody. Thanks again.

Krank88 wrote:Not only does the pump still work, but it sounds better than ever!! Fresh fluid I'm guessing.

One correction to a previous post. If your power steering hose is perilously close to the fan belt, then it probably is not routed properly. That's what happened in my case. The bolt came loose and the hose was under a bind to go toward the belt. Unfortunately, I remember installing that hose about 9 years ago, so, no sense blaming anybody. Thanks again.

I have had a couple of gen1 PS pumps fail. and I drove home with armstrong steering, never very far.
Its happened to my 95 gen2 van too, and I was shocked that not only was it armstrong steering, but the brakes did not work either!
That was a stressfull half kilometer thru town!

But, Mine didnt fail from the hose. My pumps all actually died, and I just put in newrebuilt units.

Its like steering a tank. But at least I had brakes. That had to be scary.

It was.
On a side note, 2 of my pumps failed doing the exact same thing.
First Good Snowfall, find an empty parking lot, crank the wheel, rev it up, do a pile o donuts. Yeehaw.
Fail.......

Actually, that sounds like fun.
Well except for the "fail" part.