Red5

1998 C5. This is from the NCM Road Race park this past Sunday. Had a GREAT time. But any time I would speed things up a bit my steering wheel acted like the power steering pump was going out. Mind you that this is not exactly a pleasant feeling going 130 MPH two feet off of a wall.

Any idea as to why this happens? When I slow it down the power steering works fine. But as soon as i go hot it starts acting up again.

Thinking it may be:
1. Boiling the power steering fluid.- Never changed it.
2. Power steering pump failure.- Never replaced it.
3. Belt slipping.- Happens at very high RPM.

Thoughts?

Bill Dearborn

Both my 97 and 03 had to have the steering rack and pumps replaced a couple of times. If the power steering is coming and going in a corner you will suddenly feel very heavy steering which takes a lot of force to maintain you line followed by very easy steering as the system comes back. Either way you react too late for the heavy steering and the car's arc widens and you react too late for the sudden ease and the car's arc tightens. New steering rack will usually fix the problem.

Bill

RDnomorecobra

at the very least change the pump and fluid and you need to treat power steering fluid like brake and clutch fluid, freshen it before track events.

Gas Junkie

If you decide to replace any parts, give these guys a look.

http://www.turnone-steering.com/

I had them rebuild my pump and rack and they have been flawless.

555ss

I have had tham do 3 THEY ARE AWESOME. I buy their pump and pulley and have them rebuild the rack after their work the cars never have any issues.

froggy47

Turn one pump &pully & redline full syn fluid. If it's still acting up send the rack to them. Usually just the pump/pully/fluid will fix it.

Ramo7769

Just throwing in my agreement with the others. At my very first track event this year with my 1999 FRC with 35k miles, my pump failed. I replaced with a Turn One and no issues to speak of yet. It's expensive, but I hope not to replace it again. I believe it does less work per revolution compared to the stock unit, despite having the same size pulley. It means there's a bit more steering effort, but I don't mind it. I thought there was too little on the track with the stock unit.

Red5

Thanks for teh help. Looks like I am building up a winter project list.

C5ZEE06

Do you have tube headers? Aftermarket or oe motor mounts ? Check to see if the steering shaft is rubbing the header..maybe near the universal.

Apocolipse

Is the pulley worth it? I heard that an oem pulley will fit from an f-body that is similar but cheaper?

555ss

Well, The new pulley from Turn One comes pressed on to the pump and you can install the mounting bolts thru the windows so for me it was a no brainer. The plastic pulley on the stock pump gets removed with a hammer then the new one just bolted in place and for the money they get for a pulley it was just a clean way to get the job done.

Bill Dearborn

One thing that can help the stock pump. Install a larger power steering cooler. Use a transmission cooler to get more area and more fluid in the system. Once you get the heat out of the fluid the pump and the rack will last much longer.

Bill

edge04

I am starting to have some grinding noise and wonder if it is the same issue. Started at an HPDE event and now still going on the street. Odd thing is it only does when turning left,any slight turn of the wheel to the left. Feels/sounds like low fuild but it's not. Wonder if it just boiled and needs replacing.

555ss

The next thing it does is start leaking, my guess is you melted the plastic bushings as I have done before, Ditto what Bill said I run a trans cooler in front of the ac condensor to cool the power steering and have 0 issues since.

moespeeds

Just for giggles make sure your Harmonic Balancer is not coming off or wobbling. It can hit the power steering rack, and actually mill into it if it gets far enough, causing intermittent power steering loss, and lots of funny noises.

edge04

those with the cooler are you running a plate type cooler, fin and tube or heat sink. fan or fanless? I am pretty strapped for space so will need to get creative. Thanks

Hi Volts Z06

An UD pulley can't hurt the situation either. Those stock pumps weren't meant to turn those high revs all day long.

froggy47

exactly

Apocolipse

Or cheaper alternative, press on a truck pulley and offset the pump to line up again. Will spin slower since it's a larger diameter than the vette pulley.

2 GTOs

Had the same issue as OP. Swapped to some redline fluid and seemed to fix it.

I think turn one had a sale when they reached xx face book likes so I picked up a pump and pulley. No more fluid boiling out.

If the fluid has never been changed, I personally would give that a try first, but at some point, you will probably be going the route of a pump and rack rebuild. Seems inevitable from what I read around here.