So I'm having issues with my brothers STI and the power steering. Long story short. The power steering was leaking very bad so I rebuilt the power steering with new orings/etc and it fixed the job. No more leaks and everything was great. Fast forward maybe 6 months later. The car was waiting on a new turbo to put in. The car sat for maybe 3-4 months waiting on turbo upgrade. I finally get everything done and the car is back on the road. Right now the power steering goes in and out (kinda scary). Things I've done. Flush Fluids Replaced 4 stock spring clamps with worm screw clamps Bleed the system multiple times After doing all of that. The system for some reason can not hold pressure. On start up I hear whining from the PS and the steering is heavy. I'll sit in the garage and turn lock to lock and it eventually goes away. If I leave the car off overnight and drive the next morning I somehow loose power steering momentary again. If I just run to the grocery store real quick and jump back in the car the power steering is fine. Only seems to loose pressure if it's off overnight. Any ideas? Is the PS pump shot?
thats how my power steering is acting now. I did the last weekend of autocross like this, and pretty much coned almost every single slalom. Anyhow, I still havent taken apart anything but the pressure coming in and out is what I am experiencing. I am thinking seals in the rack are shot and sucking in air, thus the PS pressure goes out bc of air in the hydraulic ram, but turning the wheel back and forth either compresses the air back to the fluid or temporarily pushes it out. Last night I started the car for the first time since last week and my PS pump squealed big time but quieted down, then only whines when I move the steering wheel
mine has been acting funny as well. Still trying to determine if I have a leak where the usual suspect O ring is or not. Cleaned everything up so I can see any moisture that develops. and 500 for a new pump is a kick in the balls.
Don't forget about mine, replaced last year. 10 years seems to be the expiration on our pumps. My new OEM pump was acting up a little bit over the past few weeks. Brandon put a new thicker o-ring in on Friday and good as new again.
I replaced my power steering pump in 2013. I thought it was the o ring issue but that did not fix it. The car got really scary to drive because the ps would fail randomly. I noticed it was going bad when i got some steering wheel shudder while pulling in and out of the garage. Subaru power steering pumps are really finicky.
I had what sounds to be the same issues a while back. After doing some research online, I found out that it was a known issue and had to get my steering rack replaced. (mine was leaking too). I found out later that this stuff is highly flammable, which was fantastic as it was spraying all down my DP. :eek3: Anyways, I reached out to SOA and they ended up giving me money for part of the replacement, not all. My thread should be on here somewhere...
ya i think i may be in for the double whammy of a PS pump and a new steering rack, I've got pump whine and a definite slow leak on the passenger side of the rack. turns out, thats quite a lot of money just in parts
Yea after research this I'm starting to pinpoint the issue down the the Power Steering pump going bad. So after I would bleed the system and everything feels fine. I would take it out for a drive. I would randomly loose power steering momentary when my RPMs are up and then I would get power steering again. I'm going to start off with replacing my power steering pump first. I'm just going to get a used one rebuild the seals and see how long it last. I don't have $500 to dish out HAHA.
Call AllPro. If they have any used ones on hand they will let them go cheap. I could be wrong but I think they told me $120 when mine went out last year (they didn't have any at the time though).
I was having similar symptoms last year, then finally the leaking as well. From what I could find after closely looking at the various NASIOC/IWSTI threads, the OEM seals on this particular pump series have only about a 10 year life [even with by the book fluid changes]; so unless one has the time and desire to rebuild or know someone who can do it economically; the consensus was the OEM replacement pump was the preferred option; which AllPro confirmed. I had AllPro do this service along with addressing the leaking valvecover gaskets at the same time.