power steering

[ozzie]

I had a horrible squeal - finally figured out is was the power steering pump, not the alt.  took the belt off, drove to NAPA.  Know what?  handles fine without the pump.

do you think it is all right to drive a 91 jetta GL (gas to dsl swap) that has power steering without the pump belt?  long term i would like to remove the pump but that might cause a problem.  rather not swap the rack - might be over my head. thoughts?

Oz

[vanbcguy]

Mine's been going since about June without a working PS pump.  Don't know that it's all that good for the rack, or specifically the power parts of it; that's only a concern if you're planning on going back to PS later with that particular rack though.

There's some others on here driving around with power racks without pumps.  If you DO remove the pump make sure you don't let any gunge get in the lines.

[rallydiesel]

You can loop the lines on the rack. This will keep it from seizing up. Just get a short section of line made at a hydraulics place and make sure the rack has some fluid in it. Many people turn their power racks into manual racks this way.

[burn_your_money]

Make sure your water pump pulley is still turning. Some styles have a clutched pulley on the water pump and without the PS belt the waterpump won't turn.

My power steering rack lasted about a year after I simply cut the lines. If you leave the whole system intact I don't think you will have any problems.

[ozzie]

thanks for the replys.  geeez, never even thought of the water pump.  i am sure it would have occurred to me had i messed that up.  when i read that from work the other day i actually ran to the parking lot to check.

rally - so it sounds like there have been some that have used their power steering this way for a long time huh?

thanks
oz

[rallydiesel]

Yes, a lot of gasser people that want to simplify their engine bays have done this. There's lots of threads on this at VWVortex. It's a lot easier than switching to a manual rack.