87 Pulsar SE, Leaking pinion, what if I just bypass the rack?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Doug - 11 Jul 2007 22:09 GMT

As mentioned there is a moderate leak that appears to be coming from the
top of the pinion, as best I can tell.

On this 19 year old car I dont want to put much money into it.
So I thought why not just loop the power steering pump output back to
the reservoir and drive it with manual steering?

Any downside?

Any comment appreciated.

TIA

Doug in Canada.

Reply to this Message

R Flowers - 26 Jul 2007 03:29 GMT

> As mentioned there is a moderate leak that appears to be coming from the
> top of the pinion, as best I can tell.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Any downside?

I own one as well, but I think my answer could apply to most power steering
vehicles.

Don't do it. A power steering car without it's power steering does not make
it a manually steered car. It makes it much worse. Has your car ever died
while tooling around at slow speeds? The wheel can be almost impossible to
turn.

If you don't want to spend much money, and the leak is moderate, just keep
the reservoir full. If the leak is worse than that, consider getting it
fixed or start looking for another 20 year old car. That's what I do,
anyway!

-- R Flowers

Reply to this Message

still me - 28 Jul 2007 14:50 GMT

>Don't do it. A power steering car without it's power steering does not make
>it a manually steered car. It makes it much worse. Has your car ever died
>while tooling around at slow speeds? The wheel can be almost impossible to
>turn.

Agreed. Manually steered cars have different gear ratios.

>If you don't want to spend much money, and the leak is moderate, just keep
>the reservoir full. If the leak is worse than that, consider getting it
>fixed or start looking for another 20 year old car. That's what I do,
>anyway!

Reply to this Message

Rate this thread: