Pretty sure it's the valve this time but I do know for sure the 2 times previously were leaking from the valve, Lonestar verified that.

 

It's been too cold to do anything, but I have a pile of parts for my two cars. The 1980, which doesn't leak, but also doesn't work, will get all of the parts pulled, and manual steering installed (yes, I have the correct parts for this). The '79 leaks, even after replacing two of the four lines. That will free up enough parts to rebuild everything myself with the pile of rebuild kits I've picked up.

Does it seem reasonable that the power steering pump may be partially to blame? Can it be putting out too much pressure, and causing other parts to fail?

 

That's a good Jim Shea question. My "guess" is yes.

I just think all the valve cores are on their second or third rebuild. Nothing left to seal. A manufacturer needs to step up and sleeve their cores like they do the calipers. I believe they could do well $$

 

 

Control is nothing without power !
If I were to spend $1200+ on a C3, it would be spent on a O.D. tranny or spent under the hood. Not on the power steering.

 

I also purchased a "new" lasted 4 years, then I rebuilt the original unit which lasted some 15 years before having problems with leaks.

I used the fill it up process for ~ 4 years before trying a "new unit"

My rebuilt is only on year 1 so I don't know the long term status.

 

I had previously purchased a new not rebuilt ps control valve, which was very expensive, it held tight for almost a year before it started leaking really bad. I couldn't see spending the extra bucks for another new unit so I purchased a rebuilt cardone unit from Rock Auto it's only been a month but thus far it's still holding tight. If it last a year I'll be happy and replace it with another rebuilt unit.

 

I hope the one you got last, because I have no faith in Cardone valves...

 

As a matter of fact...if a customer brings in a part that is in the box and it has Cardone on it.....I tell them that is is not Cardone...it is CAR DONE! Meaning ...KAPUT! It has been a crap shoot in whether the part is going to work or not.

****PERSPECTIVE****

For those of us who do this for a living we often times find parts that we can count on and regardless o fthe cost...we suggest them to our customers. Sometime this is received well by the customer and all goes well...but sometimes the customer has done their own searching and found parts less expensive.

What some people may seem to forget..and even those who work on their own Corvette is that when a person buys apart and installs it themselves. They are the one who will have to deal with it if it fails. If a person is doing the same repair over and over again due to what ever issue is causing for it to fail. They will possibly soon realize that their time is now starting to become a part of the equation of what it is taking to repair the car.

Well.. those of us who do it daily know all about this and that is why we suggest what we do...because we do not have the time to keep dealing with the same issue over and over under a warranty scenario.

So think about a repair taking one hour...and the parts that were used on numerous Corvettes ( not just ONE). And slowly they were failing and it is not the customers fault...so we have to EAT that and do it again...and if you have 10 of them in a month or whatever it is...that is 10 hours of lost time. And who wants to work at their job for a week and go into the payroll department and tell them that they do not have to pay you for 10 hours this week....even though you worked the full week. So your check will reflect 30 hours.

Well..hopefully this can somewhat explain why some of us comment the way we do. Regardless of the subject matter of the thread in question. Not making light of a DIY'ers time....but having part or repair work on their car does not mean that it is the method to use all the time. Becasue if someone like myself changes a product line and uses it on 10 Corvettes and they begin to fail...that is an EPIC FAIL and is not GOOD.

DUB