power steering control valves
 

A few months ago a rebuilt my power steering control valve and shortly after found it to be leaking while at full lock. Didn't look at why until today as I needed the car running quickly so i just put a rebuilt valve on from a well know supplier.
The rebuilt valve leaks all the time. The cause for my rebuilt valve leaking appears to be a seal that I must have damaged while installing. Seems strange that the rebuilt valve was leaking as I would expect better quality from this supplier. (at the same time I also think if you want a job done right you should do it yourself) Is it likely there is some other problem on my car or have I just had a bad valve? My old valve leaked from the join between the two halfs (only while steering was on full lock). the rebuilt valve I bought leaks from the balance adjuster. (at all times)

l'd order a new valve from Lone Star. The old cores are all just worn out.
I went thru this same crap twice and gave up. New one is 5 years old or so and no leaks.

That control valve design creates a lot of opportunity for mis-assembly and soft-part damage. If you are not very familiar with what is to be done AND HOW to do it, assembly errors are pretty easy. That's why there are so many defective "new" rebuilds...the people hired to do this work don't have the necessary skills and/or focus to do the work well.

If someone has reasonably good DIY skills, and is good at doing detailed work...correctly (meaning double and triple checking everything that is done), a successful rebuild of that valve is not so difficult. If you just want to buy the seals, tear it down and throw it together....good luck.

I spent $15 for a C.V. rebuild kit over 10 years ago. Got the correct diagrams and detailed info on HOW to do the job from Jim Shea (on the Forum), studied the info, cleaned the part well BEFORE tearing it down; put each part removed in sequence and orientation as it came apart [so that I would be sure to put it back together correctly!], and had no trouble rebuilding it successfully. No problems with it for the last 10 years. But rebuilding that device DOES take effort and care (something the rebuilding industry can't take the time to do!!).

Unless some 'hard' part in that assembly is excessively worn or damaged, the unit should work almost as good as new with a proper rebuild. Basically, it merely meters and directs hydraulic pressure, so not that many part to actually wear out.

Normally this kind of thing is easy for me, but I think I was rushing at the time. Just double checked and the valve I'm currently using was a new valve not rebuilt (must be a quality part lol). I'm thinking of just putting a seal kit on my old valve again but I'll take more care this time.

Sounds like a plan. Just realize that if you mis-assembled this valve during the first rebuild, you won't be able to use it as a reference for how to do the next rebuild. Contact Jim Shea and get the correct build info and follow those instructions to get it built correctly. Sequence of assembly and orientation of parts (front/back and rotational position of round parts) IS IMPORTANT with this assembly.

And, as you are a DIY-kinda-guy, you should have no trouble.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...bc98f989f2.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...e487743a7f.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d1ecdf4f2d.jpg
One of these new ones? This is the brand new unit made by LoneStar.

Still have the photos from when I took it apart the first time. So everything should go back the way.

Holden parts are easy, although we also have a guy here that imports parts from a few vette suppliers and sells them on at a reasonable price (normally less than you would pay to if you were to order them yourself)

That looks like the one I got. Probably has lonestar under one of the stickers on the box

Have just removed my new valve from the car. It was definitely NOT A Lonestar valve.
I opened it up to see why it was leaking. Found the seal at the balance adjustment end had been very badly damaged. There was a few other things that were a bit odd (but not necessarily bad) The bolts were all metric (spotted this before I had it off the car). The nyloc nut for the balance adjustment was thicker than normal (I wonder if this is partly to blame for the damaged seal)

This issue probably accounts for why so many folks covert over to the Borgeson setup.
I have 2 set aside for my projects.
I have at least one original valve from my 75 with PS in my shop if you want to check it out for rebuild capability. Free if you want it.
Might check with Gary GTR1999. Master builder of C3 steering boxes.
PM him.
Sure he could give you some suggestions.
Good luck.
Let me know about that valve though.
Dennis

Have rebuilt my original valve but haven't installed it yet. But should be good. I took my time and made sure things were right.

I took apart the new Valve completely for a bit of fun and found some other issues that i hadn't already found.
1st thing to note is that while i thought the nyloc nut for the balance adjustment was thicker than normal it was about the same; however it used an 10mm (0.394") socket for adjustment which is smaller than the factory nut (7/16" or 0.4375")
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...2759b6dba6.jpg
This is the seal that was leaking. It had similar damage all the way around.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d5047ab016.jpg
This spring was installed upside-down. Which explains why once I started to pull the valve apart the ball stud seemed loose.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...6a2e7390d8.jpg
This was all of the grease used on the ball stud. I could be wrong but I would have expected more that than. The valve came with clear instructions that it had been correctly greased and if any additional grease was added it would void the warranty.

With today's products (new and aftermarket rebuilds), you get what you get. Their 'guarantee' is to..."Bring it back...we'll give you another one just like it." What an offer

WE are the quality control portion of new product. You buy it, you try it, it fails, you remove it, take it back, get another 'questionable' part, and try it again.

What's wrong with this picture????

I bought my power valve from Borgenson and never looked back. I got rid of all that crap.

I could not find new ones listed on Lone Star’s web site, only rebuilt ones. Looks like they discontinued them.
If so, who makes a good quality new one?

The part number for Lonestar's new PSCV's was LS150N, but you're right, they may no longer have them. I tried to get new ones from them a couple times last year, and each time I was told they didn't have any, though they didn't tell me they were discontinued either. In place of new Lonestar PSCV's, I've been getting new ones from Corvette America, and though I did have one that wouldn't center, otherwise they seem to be pretty good.

Even if I bought a 'new' one, I'd still take it apart and check it out before installing it...only to find out it wouldn't work.

Corvette America list new units (1999) for $226.99.

Sometimes it's cool to have an all-original car, with all of the faults of a 54 year old design forced to work with modern reproductions and rebuild parts assembled by people who DGAF. But sometimes there's a better way. The Borgeson in my 79, with a fresh power steering pump, doesn't leak. The manual conversion using C3 parts in my 80 doesn't leak. I'm assuming that a fresh rack and pinion unit wouldn't leak, either. And none of these three options are going to do this:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5796271e04.jpg

Fix it right, fix it once, and never look back.

the rebuild kits are crap.. simple as that. seals aren't correct and leak.
try to find a genuine gm kit, or a complete new part.. they are more expensive than rebuilt ones.. but worth it.
else yes.. if it leaks, take it back and swap it for another that will soon probably leak also.
is it a corvette only part or do other gm cars have that control valve? might find one elsewhere?

IMO, the seals in the rebuild kits are not the problem. They seal just fine (10 years on mine and NO LEAKS). The problem is installing them without cutting/damaging them and/or correctly installing them. Even builders of "new" stuff [apparently] do not test their parts: WE test their parts. And a significant percentage of them fail.

Poor assembly work probably accounts for the largest percentage of early new & rebuilt control valve problems, as well as for most 'owner' rebuilds. But, I suspect that the owner failure rate is LESS than the rebuilt failure rate.

Or you can throw more than 1000 dollars at it and buy a Borgeson box....which isn't really any "better" than what you have now (except in the case of new build quality). For the HUGE difference in expenditure, I would choose to throw 20 bucks at a rebuild kit for my C/V and "take my chances". I did just that and have been happy with the results for more than a decade.