This is the fourth motor to be installed in the car and it runs great, after I switched out the pilot bearing (AT to MT grrrrr) and installed a thermostat (idiot previous owner). An issue however that has been with the car since the time of installation is a lazy power steering system.

Background: The car had a CA18DET and the original S14 steering rack, and they both worked great together. Steering was fine, no complaints. This was about 1.5 years ago.

After some downtime and finally finding a good donor engine (~1.5 years later) I installed a used KA24DE and hooked up the power steering system, new (used) pump, old rack. I filled it correctly, tightened the belt, and bleed the rack (lifted front end, spun wheel from lock to lock at least 40 times). Not much improvement, if anything from the pump not being hooked up at all (I ran like this for at least a month while looking for stupid banjo bolts - could this have damaged anything?).

Well I replaced the pump with a used unit from a junkyard and again, no luck. There was a brief period after that install where it seemed to have gotten better, but my stopped/low speed steering is still junk and it can't be working right. Now all performance from the system has completely deteriorated and it actually feels like the system is working against me, seriously, its a pain to turn, sometimes even at medium speeds.

Other than a clog in the lines, am I incorrect by saying the safe assumption is that the rack has gone bad over time/not being hooked up while being used? I looked at all the hard lines and see no kinks, and I have no leaks. The reservoir is nice and full, with no bubbles/foam.

What other ways are there to diagnose this? I noticed what looks to be a pressure sensor in the line, maybe I can power this up and use a multimeter to check what it's seeing? I have a pressure gauge I could get hooked up to this connection, but I'd like to avoid this as I don't think it will reveal much, because I doubt 2 pumps are broken.

Lastly, I have an additional rack from an S13 that I will try if it comes down to it. All I need to do is switch the tie rod ends? Is it possible to undo the ends from the rack before removal, and reinstall them to the new rack upon installation, in order to keep them fastened to the spindles? I don't want to have to mess with them at this point.

Thanks guys, all help appreciated!

damn dude .. paraphrase.

The pressure switch in the hose tells the computer to raise the idle for increased steering load, such as parking.

If you ran your rack without fluid you probably have damaged the spool valves in the rack.

That's what I'm figuring. When I get the 3-5 hours for the job I'm gonna replace it with the spare one in my garage, I'll come back and tell ya if it fixed it.