Thunderbirds
Well-known member
- 320
- 489
- 63
- Location
- Northern Black Hills South Dakota
Hey all,
We've been having some dreaded power steering woes, slowly building up to PS failure yesterday and some maintenance not helping thus far.
Hardware:
1999 M1123, single pump/reservoir, serpentine belt.
Dex III fluid level perfect at all times, fresh fluid (6 months).
Cooling fan came on when temperature was reached, and disengaged after, no problems.
Symptoms:
Some slight hissing when revving between 1,000 to 1,500 rpm in the past few months. No other issues.
A week ago, PS was weak at idle, needing some more revs to feel solid at a stand still. Was a little stunned.
Still a solid driver. Yesterday, while pulling into a fast food joint suddenly PS failure unless I revved to 2,000rpm.
Thankfully a 12 mile straight shot from that place via country road doing 55mph, no issues since we were constantly at higher rpm.
Checked everything visually and found a very poor looking return line at the pump/reservoir.
Maintenance done in the past days:
Replaced low pressure hose, replaced Cadillac valve with a know working one with bleed screw at valve (may have been a mistake). Filled reservoir, manually filled hoses with Dex III before connecting them to the Cadillac valve, manually filled clutch hose
Bleed according to TM, up on jacks, engine off, at least 40 - 50 times left, wait 4 seconds, turn right to end wait 4 seconds.
Left in garage overnight, repeated bleeding again this morning.
Nothing really changed, except when I step on brakes, steering becomes harder, when I hit the end (left or right the fan starts spinning up) but still no PS unless I revv to 1,500.
Oh, and now I don't have a temperature indication on the gauge cluster, other gauges work fine.
What have I done, where should I start looking? I do not have any pressure gauges I could use or know how to anyway.
Thought about to drive it for some miles, but with the Sturgis motorcycle rally going on this week, I'd rather not endanger the general population.
Thanks for taking time to read and shoot any opinion or question.
We've been having some dreaded power steering woes, slowly building up to PS failure yesterday and some maintenance not helping thus far.
Hardware:
1999 M1123, single pump/reservoir, serpentine belt.
Dex III fluid level perfect at all times, fresh fluid (6 months).
Cooling fan came on when temperature was reached, and disengaged after, no problems.
Symptoms:
Some slight hissing when revving between 1,000 to 1,500 rpm in the past few months. No other issues.
A week ago, PS was weak at idle, needing some more revs to feel solid at a stand still. Was a little stunned.
Still a solid driver. Yesterday, while pulling into a fast food joint suddenly PS failure unless I revved to 2,000rpm.
Thankfully a 12 mile straight shot from that place via country road doing 55mph, no issues since we were constantly at higher rpm.
Checked everything visually and found a very poor looking return line at the pump/reservoir.
Maintenance done in the past days:
Replaced low pressure hose, replaced Cadillac valve with a know working one with bleed screw at valve (may have been a mistake). Filled reservoir, manually filled hoses with Dex III before connecting them to the Cadillac valve, manually filled clutch hose
Bleed according to TM, up on jacks, engine off, at least 40 - 50 times left, wait 4 seconds, turn right to end wait 4 seconds.
Left in garage overnight, repeated bleeding again this morning.
Nothing really changed, except when I step on brakes, steering becomes harder, when I hit the end (left or right the fan starts spinning up) but still no PS unless I revv to 1,500.
Oh, and now I don't have a temperature indication on the gauge cluster, other gauges work fine.
What have I done, where should I start looking? I do not have any pressure gauges I could use or know how to anyway.
Thought about to drive it for some miles, but with the Sturgis motorcycle rally going on this week, I'd rather not endanger the general population.Thanks for taking time to read and shoot any opinion or question.