The pump on my J30T seems to be frozen in place, and I don't see any pivot bolt to loosen. I have to replace my alternator belt but I have to remove the power steering belt to be able to do it. I also have another problem, the adjustment bolt is bent so I can't turn it, but I loosed the bolt that secures the adjuster to the frame so it is no longer having an effect but still can't move the pump even with a small crowbar. There must be another bolt or nut to loosen somewhere but I don't see it.Has anyone ever adjusted the power steering pump tension, and is there any trick to it?

As I recall there is a pivot bolt that takes a 14mm socket. The adjuster can be reached using a 1/4" drive ratchet with a swivel and a 10mm or 12mm socket attached.

Spray some penetrating oil on the pivot points (that may be squeezed onto the pump a bit) and the stiff PS hoses will still really fight you.

I found two 14 mm bolts that appear to be holding the adjusting bracket on, and loosened them but no help. BTW, I managed to get the bent adjustment bolt out after a struggle. It has a 12MM head on it and is about four inches long. I hope I can find a replacement at a hardware store.

I took the battery out so I could get a better shot at it and put a piece of 2x2 wood against the pump and beat on the other end of the wood with a mallet and the pump still won't move. To top it off the power steering belt is half on, half off the power steering pulley. Maybe that happened when the alternator belt broke and maybe a piece of it got caught under the power steering belt and made it come partly off the pulley.Can you try to describe where the 14MM bolt is you said to loosen is? I could cut the power steering belt off but I still would have the problem of how how I adjust the tension on the new belt if the power steering pump won't move.

Victor wrote:I found two 14 mm bolts that appear to be holding the adjusting bracket on, and loosened them but no help. BTW, I managed to get the bent adjustment bolt out after a struggle. It has a 12MM head on it and is about four inches long. I hope I can find a replacement at a hardware store.

I took the battery out so I could get a better shot at it and put a piece of 2x2 wood against the pump and beat on the other end of the wood with a mallet and the pump still won't move. To top it off the power steering belt is half on, half off the power steering pulley. Maybe that happened when the alternator belt broke and maybe a piece of it got caught under the power steering belt and made it come partly off the pulley.Can you try to describe where the 14MM bolt is you said to loosen is? I could cut the power steering belt off but I still would have the problem of how how I adjust the tension on the new belt if the power steering pump won't move.

Sounds like someone really over-tightened the pivot bolt, causing the PS pump to be pinched between the now bent or rusty brackets. Give some penetrating oil time to do its' job and then work the pump back and forth. It should loosen up, and it's probably best to NOT completely remove any pivot bolts and nuts.

If you put the aduster back on with it working properly, turning it should move the PS pump into a loose belt position.

The trouble is I don't see any pivot bolt. Maybe a J30T is different from a J30 as to how the power steering pump is mounted. I even found some holes in the pulley which if you put the pulley in just the right spot would expose two 15MM bolts under it, which I loosened and the power steering pump still wouldn't move.I just thought of something, maybe the wrong belt is on my car, one that is too small, maybe for a J30, and the power steering unit is already down as far as it will go. If I can't get some info why I can't move the pump maybe I will cut the old belt off tomorrow and see if maybe I can move the power steering pump in the other direction. Someone evidently was turning the adjustment bolt too hard to have bent it. But thanks anyway GerryO.

My '93 is a j30t too.

The PS first belt that Nissan shipped me was too narrow and may have been a smaller diameter too.

Hopefully things will move more freely with the old belt cut off.

Here is a diagram of the pump, in which you can see the holes in the pulley I was talking about. To the right they show what I guess is the mounting bracket, The two 15 MM bolts must go into it. The pivot point you are talking about must be at the third hole in the bracket, trouble is I don.t see it. Is the pivot point the same one the alternator uses? If so I already loosened it.http://300zx.co.uk/cgi-bin/man...al=98

This is getting to be a major job. If I didn't run into this power steering pump problem and bent bolt problem I would be finished already. If worse come to worse I will cut the belt, install the alternator belt so I can drive the car, and then drive it without power steering to a mechanic or Infiniti dealer.

Gerry, is that 14MM bolt you are talking about above and slightly to the left of the alternator? If so I already loosened it. I am now going more with the theory that the wrong belt is on my car, one that is too small and they had to adjust the power steering pump to its loosest position to get it on and thats why I can't loosen it anymore. Tomorrow I will cut the power steering belt and hopefully I will be able to move the pump in the other direction. The J30T belt is supposed to be half an inch longer than the J30 belt, so if someone didn't know this they could have installed the wrong belt, and thats how they bent the adjustment bolt because they were trying to adjust it when the adjustment was already at the limit. I hope so anyway, I would hate to have to junk my car because of a power steering belt.

Hi Victor,

I hope this diagram will help and recall that the PS pump pulley itself is pretty easy to remove, if that might help. Notice the fairly low torque numbers (N-m, kg-m, ft-lb) for all three of the lock nuts.

Thanks GerryO but I already saw that diagram. It doesn't help very much other than showing the adjustment points. It doesn't even mention having to loosen the pivot point for the alternator or the nut on the airconditioner tension pulley. I don't think very much of the Infiniti FSM compared to something like a GM maintenance manual or an Army tech manual.

Success at last. I managed to get the bent power steering belt tension adjustment bolt out and staightened it out by pounding it with a mallet. Then I managed to pry the power steering belt off so I could replace the alternator/water pump belt which was the reason I originally started this ordeal. I then pried the old power steering belt back on and what should I find is its now slack, evidently all the pounding I did on the power steering pump did move it a tiny bit. So with the now straightened adjustment bolt I was able to tighten it up. So now everything works. I called an Infiniti dealer to find what they wanted to change the three belts, they wanted two hours labor at $145 an hour, plus the belts which would have been more than an auto parts store charges. If I didn't run into the power steering pump problem, and knowing what I know now, I probably could have done the job in three hours, instead it took me two days, because I ended up taking off the air intake plumbing, radiator hoses with the associated mess, the fan, and the lower fan shroud, and the battery.Some hints. You can take the fan off by removing the four 10MM bolts holding it on. It slips out from the top. The adjusters all take a 12MM wrench, one of these gear wrenches works really well for this purpose. You have to loosen the nut on the idler pulley shaft to adjust it. I was able to do the job using my ramps which only raise the front end of the car about six inches. Loosen the pivot nut for the alternator using a 17mm wrench when adjusting it. The lower part of the fan shroud is removable, there are some plastic tabs holding it in place.