I have this problem and I'm bewildered as to what I'm doing wrong. I'm finishing up on rebuilding my front suspension which included rebuilding of the power steering pump and replacing with new the control valve and ram. I've followed intructions per the manual on refilling the system and have done so. When I have the car running at high idle and go to set the control valve to neutral in short order the power steering pump is boiling and steaming. I've checked my hoses and I'm certain they are connected properly. This has happened twice now with me changing out the power steering pump again. I have not been able to set my control valve due to this problem and my power steering doesn't feel like it's working. Any body with some suggestions would be much appreciated. Regards, Marv

 

Do you have the rod from the ram disconnected from the frame bracket for the valve centering procedure?

 

About the best I can offer is the flow of fluid is blocked somewhere causing the heat build-up. Is the fluid getting through the control valve and into the cylinder?

 

Hi John and Mike, thanks for the responses. I do have the ram disconnected while I'm trying to set the control valve to neutral. I have the ram marked and can see that it needs adjusting as it is going in. With that I'm assuming fluid is flowing to it. I don't know of anything that would be blocking my pump. Regards, Marv

 

Are you certain that you installed the vanes in the power steering pump with the rounded edges out , rather than the flat , blunt edges facing the wall?

 

I don't really have any idea of what you're referring to. Could you elaborate to what vanes your talking about and what round or flat edges you're referring to as well. Thanks, Marv

 

I'll do my best to explain what I'm referring to. I'm not sure if you rebuilt the PS pump yourself , or if someone else did it.

While I can't state with absolute certainty that this is the problem , I can't imagine anything other than a severe friction condition inside the pump that would cause the fluid to boil and produce steam.

I did a quick search , and found a site with an illustrated disassembly of the power steering system on a vette. When you click on this link , scroll down the page until you get to the steering section , and click on "putting the power back". Keep hitting " continue " on the top of the page to get past the control valve and ram rebuilds , and get to the power steering pump.


http://www.corvettemagazine.com/6367tech.html


The exposed part that you will be seeing after this disassembly is the actual pump mechanism , which is a round metal cylinder with slots milled into it around it's circumference. This cylinder sits inside the rotor ring. In each of those slots , you will find a rectangular piece of shiny metal ( these are the vanes ). These operate by centrifugal force inside the " squished circle " cavity that they rotate in. The vanes pick up fluid in the wider area of the cavity , and pump it at high pressure as the vanes compress against the narrower part of the cavity wall. If you inspect the vanes closely , you will see that one of the long edges is rounded , and designed to slide smoothly along the cavity wall. The opposite long edge is squared off , and should be inserted in the slots of the shaft cylinder.

I'm thinking that it's possible that the vanes are installed blunt edge out , and are not sealing against the rotor wall ( and therefore aren't pumping fluid , resulting in no pressure for power assist ) , and are scraping metal and creating a lot of heat from the friction.

While I've been typing this , I also wonder if the shaft bushing at the front of the pump ( behind the front seal ) might also be too tight , again resulting in high heat from excessive friction.

Again , I can't guarantee you that this is what's wrong there , but I can't think of anything else that would produce the symptoms you describe. I would encourage you to get a PS pump rebuild kit ( they aren't very expensive ) , and give it a go. They really aren't all that complicated or difficult to do. If you decide not to go that route , and buy a rebuilt pump , the only rebuild brand that I have any faith in is A-1. I don't know if you have an Autozone in your area , but I think that is the brand they carry.

Hope this is helpful to you. Please let us all know how this problem is resolved, 'cause it's sometimes frustrating to try to help someone and then never find out what the outcome is. Kinda like having cable go out 14 minutes before the story ends.


BTW, this hasn't anything to do with your PS problem , but where are you guys getting all the additional smiley type deals , like the beating the dead horse jobbie , etc ???

 

Thank you for clarifying your references. I didn't rebuild the pump myself, I had it done. After that one boiled I assumed there was a problem in the rebuild so I bought a new one from the supplier right here on the forum. That one boiled as well. So obviously I've got some thing else going on. I'm going to take it all apart today and look for any blockages and or incorrectly connected hoses. Thanks again, Marv

 

Crossed hoses would have been my first guess but I didn't want to bring it up. The other thing is, if your ram stays extended for too long, it's the same as a total blockage except what your relief valve in the pump by-passes.

Look at hose routing between the pump and control valve.

 

I had this problem and it turned out that my PS valve was rebuilt incorrectly. Installed a new valve and the problem was solved. I'd be looking at your valve. Did you have it rebuilt?

 

My vote is for the hoses to be wrong, or maybe for the valve to be WAY!!! out of adjustment.

 

Hello, I spent Memorial day looking into my power steering issues and came up with very little. All my hoses were correctly routed. I took everything apart and made sure I had no blockages anywhere. Put it all back together and basicly came up with nothing. After filling the system per the manual, went to adjust the control valve and got nothing. Adjusted it all the way in and out and it would not move the disconnected ram. I'm either not getting any pressure from the pump which could be possible because I did smoke it and maybe it's not working now. Or, the control valve is not working at all which always seems to be a problem with this part. I have my old rebuilt pump so I'll put that in first and see what happens and then go to another valve if the pump fix doesn't correct this. So that's how I spent my Memorial day weekend. Weather here in SoCal was really nice and I wanted to have the Vette out in the worst way but to no avail. Hopefully soon. Regards, Marv

 

I would say this definately points to the valve.