Power steering pump hell

Alright so I got an A1 Cardon Reman power steering pump from Rock Auto. Fixed my whine and lasted about a year. I had a whine come back and since it had a 3 year warranty I got a new replacement warranty unit. This one didn't even last a month now. I would hate to keep replacing pumps so I am thinking of getting a new OEM one. If I do will this one survive? Maybe do another reman and throw an inline filter on? It's not a huge job but it's a pain in the ass to keep replacing/bleeding the system.

My biggest worry is shelling out the cash for an OEM unit only to have issues again. @Dirty Pool you seem to know all about our trucks steering systems, any recommendations?

 

Get a new Denso unit.

 

Have you cleaned the screen at the bottom of the tank? Could be starving the pumps if not

 

Knock on wood I have never had power steering Issues.

Then I only run 235/75/15 tires on my Toyota fleet

Then the quality of Cardon has gone down quite a bit .

What about rebuilding a OEM pump ??

It is not that hard

 

I have gone through pump issues before, (replaced 3 of em after the oem one went titts up)drove me bonckers replacing pumps one after the other. One thing as mentioned already is making sure the screen is clean in the reservoir! If that is good as was mine, it ended up being the rack! It seemed to perform okay, at low rpm the steering was a wee bit hard but nothing serious. I noticed the fluid was very hot after driving for a bit. Everything was super hot, the lines, reservoir, everything! So i finally broke down and bought a rack and that was the problem the whole time! I think there was an issue with a check vakve er something and it was letting fluid by and under such high pressures it dosent take long to start creating serious heat from the fluid pissing by the valve under heavy load. I think the heat was killing my pumps. Bought a rack and my napa pump has been fine ever since. I know you dont wanna hear it but it could be your rack, its a strong possibility...

 

I had this same pump issue. went through 4 pumps before i figured out that there was something clogging the rack. the pump i have now wouldn't work at low rpms. if i wanted to turn i would have to give some gas. then one day when i pressed the gas i heard a thud and all of a sudden my steering started working perfectly. you may have the same issue.

however, put a filter on the return side! you can get these kinds of filters at napa. theyre your typical filter but it has a magnet inside to help catch particles. . put that on before you go any further.

once you get a replacement pump on there, try being aggressive for the first couple miles with your steering, or just be aggressive right away. gas it and quickly turn the wheel from side to side. see if something happens like what happened to me

 

Yeah I should have mentioned the rack is leaking as well. I replaced it with a safari reman 2 years ago, started leaking about a year ago. If I replace the pump with an oem one I was going to replace the rack at the same time. I want no steering issues if I head out to Moab next year.

Also I cleaned the screen on the reservoir before I replaced the pump the first time and checked and made sure it was still clear the second time.

For the dude who mentioned get a denso pump, I don't think I've seen them anywhere. Only seen aae and a1 cardone and some other brand.

Trying to do everything right when it comes to this shit and still having issues ha.

 

I went through 2 aftermarket pumps. Both whined horrible right away. Oem now and zero whine

 

try this. after (prefferably) putting a filter on the return side, turn all the way to one side, gas it and try to turn it to the right a little more. turn it into the max its capable of doing. try to force it into blowing out whatever may be stuck in there. I don't think the pump is bad, it may just be clogged somewhere.

 

I'll give it a shot. I regret not putting a filter on when I installed the other pump. Maybe I'll flush and throw a filter on. And then do that too.

 

I can't add much beyond what has already been mentioned.
From day one the Taco PS pumps have been temperamental to say the least and the commercially rebuilt pumps much worse. You are far from alone.
It's kind of strange because they are beyond simple. I have had good luck rebuilding and using rebuilt pumps. These days I think companies seem to be "stretching" quality control limits so "luck" may be the operative word there.

Now that being said, my personal truck is on the original pump at 250K. I always felt it was on the noisy side and changed out the fluid to synthetic at 500 miles. A member of TTORA had noticed the same thing and said the synthetic cured it. I could tell no difference. It still behaves and sounds the way it did on day one. I will say the synthetic stays new looking for ever and there has never been so much as a spec on the screen.

Some rebuilds have been known to require the install of a filter for the guarantee to be honored.

 

What is your preferred synthetic fluid? Still an ATF, correct?

 

Yes, full syn, Dex III.
FWIW, Mobile 1, any name brand will be nearly identical.
There was no difference in operation/sound.