Anyone else's PS pump crying?
10-06-2012, 01:45 PM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Anyone else's PS pump crying?
I'm putting this here because it started doing it after a track weekend. It feels completely normal, but whines and cries all the time. It's not super loud, but it doesn't seem right. A fellow C5Z member who regularly runs the track has the same issue, pump cries but PS system works just fine. He flushed all his old fluid out and replaced with some synthetic fluid and it's still doing it which makes me thing flushing mine might also be an effort in futility. I'm going to do it anyway because the fluid is nasty, but my question is is this normal for a tracked car? Or is there a common upgrade of some sort out there that I don't yet know about? I'm not a racer, just an HPDE2 weenie, so I'm not yet fast enough to truly beat the snausages out of this car.
10-06-2012, 02:01 PM
#2
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It isn't normal. It may last a while but it is going out. In 12 years with two C5s I went through 3 PS racks and 3 pumps each. Usually if the pump goes the rack isn't far behind. If the pump seal fails (what happened to my pumps) while on track you might oil down your left side tires and have an exciting time otherwise it just gets PS fluid all over the bottom of the car and the rear fascia.
Bill
Bill
10-06-2012, 02:08 PM
#3
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I ran through a guy's oil trail on my last track day, that was really exciting so I know exactly what to expect when you say that. Guess I'll start bringing extra underwear to the track. Where is the pump seal that fails? I had envisioned an internal seal eventually dying and me losing power assist but nothing more than that. That's how the 2 pumps in my other vehicles have gone out, but when they whined they were sporadic and not fully functional. Would a bigger PS cooler help it live longer?
10-06-2012, 05:13 PM
#4
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I ran through a guy's oil trail on my last track day, that was really exciting so I know exactly what to expect when you say that. Guess I'll start bringing extra underwear to the track. Where is the pump seal that fails? I had envisioned an internal seal eventually dying and me losing power assist but nothing more than that. That's how the 2 pumps in my other vehicles have gone out, but when they whined they were sporadic and not fully functional. Would a bigger PS cooler help it live longer?
GeeRookie, uses a bigger cooler on his 99 and that seems to extend power steering life. Send him a PM and he may be able to send you a picture of his setup.
Bill
10-06-2012, 07:48 PM
#5
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You are on borrowed time with that pump. Mine started squeeling and I changed to a good synthetic fluid and totally flushed the system. It lasted 2 events before it died. Seal went and the fluid looked like oatmeal it was so thick with pump impeller material. Get a track modified Turn One PS pump and be finished with the problems. Also get their billet aluminum pulley, it costs a few bucks but has slots in it that make the install MUCH easier. Also check and replace PS hoses and serpentine belts if you see any wear or cracking. Hose replacement is much easier when it is all apart.
10-06-2012, 08:13 PM
#6
Safety Car
Thread Starter
You are on borrowed time with that pump. Mine started squeeling and I changed to a good synthetic fluid and totally flushed the system. It lasted 2 events before it died. Seal went and the fluid looked like oatmeal it was so thick with pump impeller material. Get a track modified Turn One PS pump and be finished with the problems. Also get their billet aluminum pulley, it costs a few bucks but has slots in it that make the install MUCH easier. Also check and replace PS hoses and serpentine belts if you see any wear or cracking. Hose replacement is much easier when it is all apart.
10-06-2012, 10:54 PM
#7
Tolero Apto Victum
You are on borrowed time with that pump. Mine started squeeling and I changed to a good synthetic fluid and totally flushed the system. It lasted 2 events before it died. Seal went and the fluid looked like oatmeal it was so thick with pump impeller material. Get a track modified Turn One PS pump and be finished with the problems. Also get their billet aluminum pulley, it costs a few bucks but has slots in it that make the install MUCH easier. Also check and replace PS hoses and serpentine belts if you see any wear or cracking. Hose replacement is much easier when it is all apart.
10-07-2012, 01:46 AM
#9
If you are going through the trouble of replacing hoses as well you might consider what I did when I did mine. I changed all the hoses to AN type. No longer have to have those special teflon seals as used by the factory plumbing and AN hoses are commonly available at any race car type supply store. FWIW, I used a framerail transmission cooler on the return line and mounted it in the radiator duct where it is not only easy to get to it also frees up the space in front of the rack/balancer area.
10-07-2012, 08:45 AM
#11
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It's a crap shoot if your pump will make another weekend or not. How much noise, any particulates at all in fluid ? IMHO if you see any particulates at all or the fluid is very discolored, forget the weekend or replace the pump before you go.
10-07-2012, 09:51 AM
#12
Race Director
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They do rack rebuilds, too. Mine whined for a year before blowing the seal entirely. I now have the Turn One pump and like it. Use turkey baster to extract fluid from reservoir and refreshen the fluid each event weekend. Same goes for the clutch and brake fluids.
10-07-2012, 11:03 AM
#13
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I straight up bled the clutch, swapping fluid was not working for me at all. I also flush the brakes for every event. The fluid is brownish in the ps and the pump doesn't whine that loud, most days I forget it's doing it. Where do I buy the T1 pump? I see the msrp on their site but didn't see a way to buy it on their site. I've done the fluid swap once in the ps system and am currently trying to dream up a way to thoroughly flush it. I'm thinking that I'd like to put a ducted trans cooler behind one of the otherwise useless Z06 screens for my ps system.
10-20-2013, 10:19 PM
#14
Safety Car
Thread Starter
At the risk of locking this thread, which I guess wouldn't matter, I'd like to provide some quasi-closure. The pump tends to shut up a couple days after being tracked. It didn't make as much noise this year with the Royal purple flush I gave it early on in the season. Last time I tracked it though was July as I bought a race car to track now. Fluid has stayed nice and clean since the flush, but I still have a larger cooler to install as I doubt the Corvette's track duties are finished. If I get PCS'd somewhere that I can't race, I can always drive the Vette to and from the track to save money, so I'll keep pressing with the reliability mods I'd set in motion earlier on this year.
10-20-2013, 11:22 PM
#15
Race Director
I straight up bled the clutch, swapping fluid was not working for me at all. I also flush the brakes for every event. The fluid is brownish in the ps and the pump doesn't whine that loud, most days I forget it's doing it. Where do I buy the T1 pump? I see the msrp on their site but didn't see a way to buy it on their site. I've done the fluid swap once in the ps system and am currently trying to dream up a way to thoroughly flush it. I'm thinking that I'd like to put a ducted trans cooler behind one of the otherwise useless Z06 screens for my ps system.
10-20-2013, 11:26 PM
#16
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I actually did end up calling them and getting all my questions answered, the CMC Camaro I bought came with a T1 pump so that's 1 less I have to worry about!
10-21-2013, 06:50 AM
#17
Race Director
My rack went out on track in Jersey at NJMSP (the rack had seperated from the cradle
) and the pump went out while about 8 months later on track in VIR. Had a fellow driver call around locally and he found one at a Hendricks dealership. Being out of state I had no choice but to pay dealer prices and them do it, but I was on the track the next day. Do it now before it goes in a place or situation where it'll cost extra money.
) and the pump went out while about 8 months later on track in VIR. Had a fellow driver call around locally and he found one at a Hendricks dealership. Being out of state I had no choice but to pay dealer prices and them do it, but I was on the track the next day. Do it now before it goes in a place or situation where it'll cost extra money.
10-21-2013, 11:52 AM
#18
Drifting
+1 for turn one pumps. A pump that fails due to sustained high RPM (as the C5 pump is prone to do) can take your rack seals with it. When the pump cavitates, the pressure goes haywire and can blow out the seals at one or both ends of the rack. So while the failure seems like the rack, it is (most of the time) really the pump. With the turn one unit, your low speed effort will be a bit higher, but you won't have a lick of trouble with high RPM ever again.