Power Steering Issues... :(

[frapjap]

Ive got a few power steering issues. When I did my ka24de swap into my 90, I got all of the accoding parts to make it possible. When I turned the car on to go, all was well except the power steering pump. It was a 91-93 series to make it compatible with my 1995 engine. It got really hot in seconds so I unhooked the Pressure line and it was fine, except no power steering obviously.

I got a new pressure line, followed the fsm for bleeding the system, etcand turned the car on and werrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii. The pump worked, and the wheel was sooooo much easier to turn, but it got really loud and hot again, so I shut it off, took the pressure line off again and let the belt run freely again so I could drive the car.

I finally purchased a second power steering pump, changed it out, mounted it, bled the system and I got the same loud whining sound from it. This time, the pressure line is really hard and vibrates when the car is ideling. For now I have disconnected it and have it running freely again.

I believe the pump is getting fluid because when I disconnect the pressure line, fluid leaks from the pump and the line until the resivoir is empty. I am really unsure about what is wrong here. It should be a straightforward replacement/fix. What am I missing?

I am stumped. I have done the procedure twice with two pumps (just because I thought maybe the pump was bad) and have achieved the same unpleasurable result. If anyone can help me out or give me a write up on how to hook up my powersteering specifically, or has ANY idea what could be causing my problem, I'd really appreciate it. I'd hate to sound like a whiney, but I could really use NISTECHs help. Thanks to all in advance.

[180fan]

are your hard lines going into the right holes at the rack?

[s13sr20chris]

same idea bro. do you have pressure and return mixed up?

[frapjap]

The pressure and return are where they need to be. The rack lines are my next place to look. My Chiltons doesn't go into detail about the rack though, could either of you do a little tutorial about what hard line needs to go where?

[s13sr20chris]

iirc, the one from the pump goes to the rack and then from the rack goes to the resevoir.

[frapjap]

Heres the setup now...

Bottom of resivoir to rack: (small hose)Bottom of pump to resivor: 3/8 return lineTop of pump: pressure line to rack.

As soon as the car cools off I am going to switch the hardlines positions (elbow of pressure line to rack, and resivoir to rack) and see if that yields any favorable result. They may have been screwed back into the wrong holes during the swap.

[frapjap]

I was just told that Auto Transmission Fluid is better to use in the Power Steering unit. Is this true? A guy said he had a similar problem and that solved it. I don't know how trustworthy the information is.

[s13sr20chris]

p/s fluid is essentially the same as atf. the nissan fsm's all say that atf may be substituted for p/s fluid. better? i dont know how it could be.

[180fan]

on the rack: I think I had the high pressure line go to the top hole, the lower one was hooked up to the loop and had the 3/8" return. I hooked that up to the faucet like spout part on the reservoir.

the other opening for the ps pump just used the hose that came with my dohc reservoir when doing my swap that hooks up to the lower opening on the reservoir.

I think ATF just has better cleaning agents than regular ps fluid. Dunno for sure. All I know is that I'm using ATF. lol

[frapjap]

Your setup is identical to mine. I learned that you really can't change the hardlines because..well one won't reach, so they're out of the question. Guess all I have left is another pump...yuck. Should I be using the 1995 dohc pump (I have a 1995 motor) on the s13 chassis or the s13 dohc pump? I've tried both. Currently the 95 is bolted in.