Club 80-90 Forums

Gents, I just need a little back up on my diagnosis here. Bus is an '86 JX westy, factory Power Steering. I have only had it a couple of weeks now, and the steering has been pretty heavy since purchase. Today I fitted 18 inch boxster wheels, and boy it is damn heavy now. SO time to see what is wrong with the power steering. System is full of fluid, belt is new and tight (was ancient and loose, but replaced it today and it made no difference). I have receipts that came with the bus, telling me the rack and pump have both been out and "sent out for reconditioning" by a shop up north somewhere. still, this is not my first T25, and I know what power steering on one of these should feel like, and it isn't working.

So, as the system is not leaking, what to replace? My inclination is to do the pump with a fresh one from brickwerks. Also with the engine running the fluid in the reservoir is totally still, no movement at all. Now correct me if I am wrong (and this is the whole point of this post) but if that pump was working, I should see movement of fluid in that reservoir when the engine is running shouldn't I?

Remove the return line and put it in a pop bottle..get someone to fire it up and the bottle should be half full in moments...if not your pump is goosed..I have a few spare pumps in working order if want a cheap fix..

I'll give that a try tomorrow. Clutch pipe has collapsed, and the more I touch it, the more of it falls apart, so I'll be busy laying in fresh copper pipe. But once that's done, the next job is the steering. And I'll most likely be taking you up on buying a known good pump. Watch this space.

Just to wrap this up for anyone who comes across it in the future, it was the Pump. Max and Caddy was kind enough to sell me a good used one for a fair price. Fitted that, then glued the reservoir back together after snapping the return pipe nipple off removing it to perform the test he suggested, and I had working power steering......for 10 seconds, until all the fluid got pumped out of the rusty and leaking pipe up to the rack. So replaced both lines with copper pipe (between this and the clutch pipe doing the same thing last week the local plumbers merchant wants me to open a trade account) and at long last, it is working and drives again.

And yes, a properly working system does in fact have turbulence in the reservoir with the engine running.

Good to hear it works at last...guess your pump burned up from running dry after dumping the oil...strongly advise a flush out and a filter replacement as the worn out vanes could be hanging around your system and may bung up the rack or the filter...just a precaution..

Way ahead of you. Used compressed air to clear out everything before I filled it. And with it springing leaks, as I tested, I've ended up filling it 3 times before it was finally leak free. Fluid is nice and clean in the reservoir now.