CentralCoaster

My 85 Z51 steering rack and pump are 20 years old. The pump has always whined when I'm carving canyons, and adding a PS cooler or better fluid hasn't helped. It doesn't matter how much I bleed the system, it always does it when I'm driving it hard.

Then it started getting the morning sickness, groaning on cold starts when turning the wheel. I tried the Lucas quick fix, but that only made it much much worse, I think it's just too thick for the pump to work.


Anyhow, I hate to replace the rack first then tear down everything a second time to replace the pump if its still acting up. I also hate to replace good parts though, since I'm flat broke.

B!@cK 86 V3tt3

I posted a similar problem with mine on another forum and a member said it was "most likely" my powersteering pump. Something about the fins in it getting old. He said if its hard to turn the wheel thats what it MOST LIKELY is. Just read though if your pump makes noises its your rack/pinion. Why dont you take it to a professional? or save and replace both parts at once....

smokeshow

IMO, its not ur pump ,it your rack you would be wasting money if you replaced the pump .you said it now has "morning sickness "that tells me that ur r&p is gone ,and i have seen pumps go bad but they either make noise or just leak but they dont really effect the amount of effort to turn the wheel ,and a bad rack can make ur pump make noise because your rack is basicly worn out and broken inside and it blocks passages and the pump is working harder to pump the fluid and its a high pressure system ,so you will hear some pump noise when the rack is worn.

urtoslo

I've got a 94 and my pump whines like a banshee after hard driving. Turn One says that the pumps put out more pressure than the rack can handle at high RPM. They are boosted up like that so that when parallel parking, those big tires turn easy. I'm pulling my pump this morning to send to Turn One to rebuild with lower output pressure and that should stop the wailing after hard use.

I'm not sure your 85 has the same pump I have, but it sure sounds like that same issue. However, since your rack is bad, I would replace the pump at the same time.

Carl Johansson

Hey CC,
In my 86 the rack had previously been replaced - I didn't have morning sickness - just bad growling. It also started to boil over on the track. after fooling with addatives etc. I finally saw the light and sent my pump to the turn one guys (actually I traded the old pump to autozone - got a remanufactured one from them for 80 bucks - and sent that to turn one. I couldn't believe the difference.

regardless - I'm in the beginning processes of turning an 88 into a bonneville car - almost assuredly that will include taking off the PS system - so I could give you the pump - unfortunately I can't tell you if it will be in 1 month or 9 months - I have no idea as to the flow of this project!

Carl Johansson

c4cruiser

My 87 would really howl after track days. I noticed that the fluid had turned very dark and would foam up with high RPM operation. The pump seemed to be fine and there were no leaks from the pump or hoses. The rack did start to leak badly after a few track days. After the fluid cooled down (I don't have a PS cooler), the howling noises would go away and everything seemed to work fine.

I had the original rack replaced with a reman Z51 unit and used Red Line synthetic PS fluid. So far, no noise, the fluid is still clear, and no leaks.

bogus

Do you want a pump? I have one from bastets 87.

CentralCoaster

No thanks. I already put one used pump in there. Then 5 minutes later I scratched my head and realized replacing 20 yr old used parts with other 20 yr old used parts is a complete waste of time.


I always thought the high rpm was overworking the pump also, maybe a poor design. Or that the pump impeller (if it has one) is chewed up and cavitating the PS fluid. Thicker fluid would of course make this worse. Maybe most Vette owners don't run their cars in the twisties at prolonged 3000-5000 rpms. My fluid was foaming up also, causing it to foam out of the bleed hole in the reservoir, and probably allowing it to suck air bubbles into the rack.

One option to slow it down is a larger pulley, but I don't think there's any room for it. Or maybe an underdrive pulley kit. I'll check into the turnone guys. I think I have an extra pump that did the same thing. I'd like a car that will give me no fits on the track.

CentralCoaster

Professional mechanic? What's that? Someone that makes a living by throwing other peoples money at a car rather than diagnosing it? Nothing personal, but that response is out of place on this forum.

sami85L98

Kevin, i had same problem when i bought car 4 yrs ago and not only it has noises as u describe but also morning sickness and infact in morning after it idled for a couple mins and than u try to turn all the way it dont steering in a smooth way it will turn like click click click but once engine is hot enough it dont do that any more,

i ended up buying a rebuilt one from last detail, Atlanta, Ga but there was a core charge. It was not expensive i think i paid either 125 or 175. It still working good even after 35k miles. Contact Last detail : 770-414-0077.

Good luck

bogus

have you considered adding a PS cooler from an LT1?

vader86

Mine are shot now, rack has started leaking and the pump whines like crazy since I put that Lucas stuff in for morning sickness. I'm just going to replace both of them at once and get all new fluid in there.

CentralCoaster

I had a lead on a new one for a later year L98, they have like 8 rows, compared to my little 2-row. But the guy wanted about $250 for it.

I should really do all this at once. I'm in the same scenario with my paint/bodywork/glass/weatherstrip... and it ends up snowballing into so much expense at once that I can't afford it.

CentralCoaster

Well hurry up and do it, then write an article on it so you can tell me to "read my website".

Carl Johansson

It's not poor design per sey - it is for the old guys who want it to turn with one finger while they maneuver through the parking lot - so it has to send enough fluid and pressure to be effective at low speed / low rpm. This equates to to much pressure at high rpm - foaming, boilover etc.
There are oversize pulley setups available - some guys swear by em - but for me - the reengineering and revalving of the pump to make it optimized for high rpm was a much better solution - for essentially the same money.

Is it harder to turn around the parking lot - yup - a little - but it isn't "powersteering by armstrong" tough, and when you are going through the twisties at highspeed - you get a much better feel and control. I love my turnone setup.

Carl johansson