Power steering pump?

Hi, I have a 96 3.8. I replaced the P/S pump and now it seems that if I turn a sharp corner like backing out slowly from a driveway and turn the wheel all the way to 1 side the RPMs drop and the van will stall. I opened the resevoir and with the engine running the P/S fluid has a whirl pool look, pump may be working. Turn wheel to left or right the whirl pool look stops and RPMs drop than kicks back up. My guess is it is a bad pump? This did not happen before the pump change. Any clues from anyone, hate to change out pumps again and put in the same problem. Thanks.

If the pump is not working, you will feel a LOT of resistance when you steer.
You can tell this by turning the steering wheel slightly when the motor is not running.

I have not paid any attention to what things look like in the resevoir when the motor is running.

One common cause for stalling at idle when turning the steering wheel is the Idle Air Control (IAC) that is mounted on the side of the throttle body.

As far as the new pump creating more load on the motor than the old one, I am not familiar with that problem......I guess it could happen.
You might try removing the serpentine belt from the power steering pulley and turning the pulley by hand, to see if there is a real strong resistance.

One thing that can cause additional load on the steering is the steering pivot points.....tie rod ends, lower ball joints, upper strut bearing.
It is not unusual for the tie rod ends to dry out and squeak.
I used a grease needle on my grease gun.....poked the needle into the boot over the joint and pumped a bit of grease in.....until the seal just started to swell.

Were the hoses removed from the rack? Is there any chance the high-press and low-press hose hook-ups were crossed? Unfortunately, they are the same thread size.

Hoses where not taken off the rack. There no resistance in steering. (IAC) was cleaned out and had no effect. P/S pump moves freely. I think it maybe the pump, not any of the components under the van. This started after the new pump, thought I was going nuts when this started. Also changed the old fluid to Merc. V trans. and it seemed to turned brown and still stinks like the old burnt chocolate flavor?? Thanks for the responce.

It sounds like the pump at this point. What symptoms caused you to change out the pump in the first place?

Isn't there a pressure relief valve for when the wheel is turned all the way to the stop? Could this be the issue?

Why did I need to change the pump? What happen is during the winter the belt was making a slight groaning sound, I thought it was the cold weather. I was driving the van and all of sudden I lost power steering.Pulled over and found the surp. belt has popped off the pulleys. Took belt off and started up the van. Knowing that I can drive home but not have water pump,P/S pump AC not running with the belt off I drove home. I watched the temp. gage and it did go up. Pulled over and opened up the hood to cool of the engine, notcied that P/S fuild all over? Why was it getting hot? Got home found the idler pulley froze up and replaced it. Next the P/S pump was making a loud grooning noise. Then replaced pump. New pump is OK, only problem like I mentioned is turning and the RPM/ stalling will happen. Is the rack and pinion shot? Bad pump? Why the hot P/S fluid when the belt was off. I can replace the pump but what a nightmare to remove.I hope this info may help more. I do not know anything regarding the relief valve. Thanks for your replies guys.

Why did I need to change the pump? ............ notcied that P/S fuild all over? Why was it getting hot? ........... Why the hot P/S fluid when the belt was off. ..............

Sorry you've got the problem ... but what a neat mystery! Why was the PS fluid hot? Does anyone have an answer?

Is there any chance that the PS cooler section of the radiator has a cross-over hole in it? That could be tested.

Is the pump location, near the cyl head, along with no fluid movement .... the reason for the heat?

??

If something, let's say the rack, stopped fluid flow ... would that cause the fluid to overheat?

The rad. cross over hole for the cooler. It only has the line that runs from the pump then down below the large radiator.I dont see anything else coming off that line.This is a 96, 3.8. The pump is mounted to the engine, possible heat build up? maybe. I like your responce 12OUNCE, "what a neat mystery" Im thinking of changing pumps. Autozone has a lifetime warrn. on it so I should have no problem returning it. Anyone that is looking to replace the pump, you may want try to remove the pulley still mounted on the engine. Thanks.

I am in process of changing a PS pump on my '99. The replacement I've had for ages ... finally getting around to it because the hi-press hose became a leaker. The '99 PS pump is pretty easy to remove with pulley in place ... but that was a 98-99 change. I hope my reman pump is OK.

If I read correctly, your current symptoms match your earlier ones pretty well. Is that correct? If so, I would now guess the problem is likely NOT the pump.

... and I meant to add: on the '99 (with tow package), PS fluid is routed thru a section of the radiator and shares an extra air heat exhanger with tranny fluid.

You could remove the low pressure return to the reservoir and let it flow into the lid opening ... just to get an idea of how much flow you have.

Yes the problem matches the earlier one. You not think it is the pump? then what? Rack and pinion? Also on 96's the pulley must come off first, there is a bolt that holds the pump the the engine under the pulley. I have no tow package. Ill look into the flow test you have mentioned. Thanks 12OUNCE.

For the 3.8L without the towing package, the power steering "cooler" is a metal line that loops in front of the bottom part of the radiator/condensor coils.

For the '96 3.8L with the power steering pump....here is a link to a picture of the replacement pump next to the big alluminum bracket, complete with the power steering pump and idler pulley

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1324725013011220610safAZm

Note the 3 bolts that I have barely inserted into the holes, that hold the bracket in place.
Also note the 3 bolts on the old pump....still installed in the bracket.....as well as the idler pulley still in place.

As mentioned, remove the power steering pulley.....but you MUST use a special tool for this.....I got the tool at advance auto parts. You do NOT want to push or pound on the power steering pump shaft...as this can damage the pump.

The FIRST thing to do is to remove the alternator (disconnect the negative battery terminal cable first), with the alternator installed on that bracket....it is really tough to manipulate the bracket around with the extra weight of the alternator.

Use extra care with that metal line connection to the pump......it can be hard to line it up just right.....and easy to cross thread.

As far as power steering fluid coming out when you drove without power steering......you will notice that the level indicators on the dipstick that is mounted on the inside of the power steering fill cap leave a lot of air room in the top of the resevoir?.....that is because when you turn the steering wheel without the power steering pump running.....the fluid level may go way up in there......which might be what the overflow of fluid was all about.

You will need to clean all the spilled fluid up from the belt area (all the pulleys, etc) and replace the belt if it got any fluid on it.
Follow the diagram on the bottom side of the hood for serpentine belt routing.....if the label is not there, look it up on the AutoZone website....print it out, and use it to get the belt routing correct.
Remember that the smooth pulleys contact ONLY the smooth surface (outside) of the belt, and the grooved pulleys contact ONLY the grooved surface (inside) of the belt.
So If you find yourself lining up the wrong surfaces.....you know that you have something wrong.

Take note that the replacement pump can be bought with or without a new resevoir.
I got mine with a new resevoir.....1 less thing to assemble.

If the power steering pump pulley gets damaged.....you can also buy a new one of those.
The tool for removal AND installation is easy to use......

If the symptoms haven't changed much ... there's a good chance the problem is other than the pump.

Let's do a mind game on a flow restriction ... the pump attemps to push fluid around the "loop" but, because of the restiction, the only flow is across the pressure relief valve and back to the reservoir ... very little flow equals ... very little cooling ... equals overheating. What is the restriction? Who knows ... it could be the rack ...or ???

I too just changed the power steering pump and pressure hose on a 99 Windstar and the pump seems to be working fine but making more noise than the old one every did. The old one was leaking out of the shaft seal so it needed to come off, but the new one is annoying to drive with. I had some other problems come up with this vehichle and had to push it into the shop a few times and did notice that when the van wasn't running it pushed fluid out the top of the reservior as you turn. So I would say that if you drove your van home with out the belt the fluid out would be just a result of not having the pump equalizing pressures?

One thing that can cause a noisy pump is old fluid......the '99 would use Mercon V ATF.....I would flush the old fluid out. If the old fluid is bad enough...it can damage the new pump.

I installed a Magnefine filter in the fluid return line to the resevoir.

I like "wiswind's" and "PAMUSTANGMAN's" theory about the high fluid level much better than mine ... the unassisted rack was pushing fluid back to the reservoir ... too much fluid since the pump wasn't sucking any away. Kudos!

So far my new reman pumps seems to be working fine ... easy steering!

Yes, sounds right to me now about pushing the fluid with out the pump. Thanks for your help guys.