rejracer Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Hi all, I have an 83 NA 280zx project car that I am working on for a friend. This car has an intermittent power steering problem. Let me explain: At first I noticed around corners the steering was a bit weak. I topped off the reservoir with a little bit of power steering fluid. This seemed to solve the problem, and all was well. About a month later I was lubing up the front suspension and was moving the steering by turning the front wheels from left to right, lock to lock. Towards the end I was doing this quickly and heard the rack sucking air and gurgling. It was leaking as well. When I fired it up it seemed to be fine, no leaking and the steering seemed fine. While parking i turned the wheel to the full left lock and started to straighten out the steering wheel when the steering locked. When I say the steering locked, I mean it was frozen, locked, and no amount of force was going to budge it. To get it working again, I put it in neutral, raised the rpm's and repeatedly bumped the steering to the right, it took about 10-15 seconds of doing this to free it. I can reproduce the problem, but not every time. Clearly this is a serious safety hazard, and I need to know how to repair this right. Now I have read that I should not have used power steering fluid in the car, I will be flushing the entire system with ATF to remedy that problem. I have also read that PS fluid will destroy the seals and hoses in the system. If that's the case, and I did destroy the seals, do rack seals going bad cause the symptoms I am describing? For reference, I have another 83 power steering equipped car with no PS pump connected to it. The steering is very easy to turn, but it also has no fluid in it anymore. Can a failing pump cause the symptoms I am describing? My plan of attack is to do the following and test after each change if not fixed do the next step 1. flush the system with ATF. 2. Inspect system for binding. 3. pull the rack and install a seal kit from rockauto 4. replace the pump with a known good unit. 5. buy a rebuilt rack. If you have insight to this type of problem, I'm all ears! Thank you, Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Check ujoints. Also possible colum locking up. (steering wheel lock) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowlerMonkey Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Did anybody put some sort of "stop leak" in the system? I remember GM had a bunch of front drive cars like the citation that would lock up the power steering from debris sticking in a valve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islanddozer Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 sounds like it is binding inside the rack. suggest rebuilt rack Try www.rock auto.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejracer Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 I did not think of the u-joints, but I will check it out. I don't know the history of the car, I bought it from a guy as a parts car. Upon inspecting the reservoir it does not appear to have any of that stuff in it. I have purchased a seal kit from Rock auto. We will see if just the seals do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islanddozer Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Gotta love that rockauto eh. you can view the part and have all manufactures listed. What I do is, take part # down to my local supplier and I get my discount. This way I am not waiting if there is a part locally. I have ordered many parts through them but only if my guy can't get them. I purchased some main bearings from them once (sealed power composite) and they arrived at my place with scratches on them. Called them and they asked for some pics of what arrived. The next day they sent out new bearings and they gave me a credit of $50. Got the bearings the next day and up $50. Good bunch of guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUZN Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 ok what you describe could be one of a couple things with Racks.. Yes PS can harm systems but Not that quickly on a top up cause you'd be only adding like 4% to the system of PS and it would still have 96% ATF.. it would most likely blend. Now to get to your issues. What you describe is not a fault of the PS pump. That only controls flow to the Rack Spindle and housing IE the Directional Control Valve. What this dose is. It has three channels. A Left Assist chamber/ Neutral assist Chamber/ and a right assist chamber. Each of these valleys are seperated by Teflon seals within the housing. When you want left Assist as you turn the wheel you turn the housing that opens or closes small holes in the VALLEYS so you get left/right/or no assist. What somtimes happens is debri or seals parts get stuck on the holes which can cause Full Assist one way or the other or no assist all the time. This can make it so the Pump thinks its in Full left turn. Now your arms cannot push 3000PSI so until that pressure differential is released or the particulate moves youll be stuck turning or have no assist . Now thats one issue. Yes you could have the steering Gears binding. Although Im not sure if theres adjustemts on the nissans Racks. Might be I'll have to look on mine. But over time obviously the teeth get groved fromuse and yes it can Bind there. Also yes you could need a seal kit but Im sure thats only outter Piston seals not the gear Seal itself. you'll have to see if you can dismantle or Ill look it up on AllData or mitchell and get back to ya hehe 2 Weeks of Automotive school left YAY!!!! yeah just finished Power steering pumps and Gears and Rack so we duplicated all you talk about LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowlerMonkey Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 One other possibility if the boots are open. A piece of gravel sitting on the rack "gear" grooves can bind when the pinion gear meets it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejracer Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 I have cancelled the seal kit from rock auto. I also have an 83 turbo car I'm going to pull the rack from. I'm trying to fix this car as cheap as possible. The other rack has half the miles as well, so I think it's going to be a better overall solution. I will flush the system before though to see if that changes anything. I have downloaded the service manual, and wanted to avoid pulling 2 racks if possible. I have time so I will just do the investigation more throughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUZN Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 But yeah could be one of many issues.. And without being there to test it I cant say for sure anything lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejracer Posted November 5, 2010 Author Share Posted November 5, 2010 Update on this old thread. The rack for the turbo car was in worse shape than the NA car so I rebuilt the NA rack. it leaked like a sieve, so I ended up buying a rebuilt rack from Rock Auto. It's worked fine ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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