Welcome to the SR20 Community Forum - The Dash.
Register
SR20 forum logo

Thread: power steering leak. pleaseee help

+ Reply To Thread
Posts: 1-10 of 11
2011-09-12 17:38:31
#1
power steering leak. pleaseee help
hey everybody. i have a 91 sentra se-r, with a bluebird swap. now i found a torn boot on the driver side of the rack. right where the rack connects to the tie rod. my question to the forum: can i replace the boot and whatever is leaking or is it the whole rack that needs to be replaced? pics will be coming soon

any help is greatly appreciated!!
2011-09-16 14:45:55
#2
think I'm just gonna remove poewr steering until I get some money. does anybody know if nissan makes a belt for a bluebird engine without power steering or A/C? I'm wondering if theres a way to remove the belt. Also. I know theres a way to loop the input and output of the power steering pump. but people are telling me you cant do it. can anybody explain how to do it?
2011-09-16 14:55:14
#3
Is the power steering failing you? Where is the leak coming from?

I never had it leak from a torn boot. Usually they kind of weep from the base of the resevoir. The fix is installing a B14 plastic res. and replacing the hose.

There is a belt for no power steering because some of the e model and possibly some other b13s came w/o ps. It should fit if not sometimes I buy a few belts in incremental sizes and test fit then return one or two. You can leave the ps pump on the belt and just disconnect it. costs 1-2whp maybe but works fine.

If you loop the rack make sure there is a vent so it isn't pressurized. Any air trapped in there will expand when hot and mess things up.

good luck
2011-09-16 15:00:10
#4
I was doing some research and found this thread on a honda forum. they looped the input and output of the pump and added a breather hole to the rack. the idea is to relieve the pressure in the rack making it easier to turn and more responsive. a lot of the honda guys loved the breather setup.

this was taken from the honda forum http://http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=184202
This was brought up by another post I had regarding how to convert you power steering rack to work as a manual. This is the similar to Realtime racings set-up. I reposted so it will be easier to find during a "search" in the future:

Its is very easy to do, difficult to find the fittings. Sorry only some pics so I'll describe as best as possible.

Once high pressure lines are removed from the rack you will have a "barb" fitting and a threaded female fitting that are straight down from the master cylinder where the steering shaft goes into the rack. You will need to find a barb fitting that threads into the female opening. Anyplace that sells Areoquip......Speed shops... I got mine from Detroit Flexible Metal Home Page The part number for the threaded fitting and the barb adapter are 15.117-6-6 ($14.00) and FBM 1222 ($2.50)

When you have two barb fittings you will need a hose to connect them or double back into itself. Acura part # 53735 sr3 960 Listed as a "power cooler" works perfectly for this application. Should retail for $14.62. It is only a short rubber hose that doubles back 180 degrees but you will not be able to get a normal heater hose or fuel/air hose to do so without kinking. STEP 1 Connect the two open ends from where the high pressure lines were removed


(picture courtesy of TodaSI, Actually I didn't ask<IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif" BORDER="0"> The picture is not the same hose you would get from Acura I described above)

When that is complete the car is actually drivable but still requires some effort to turn the wheel. The next step is to "tap" into one of the lines that feeds the rack. If you look straight down from your throttle body area to the rack you will see 2 metal lines (look like brake lines) that feed the rack itself. The one in the middle of the rack that threads straight down into it is the one you need to "T" into. It is the line on the right of the rear engine mount in this picture. This is where you need to be creative. I spent $50 in fittings doing this. The next time I will just cut the line and braze (sp?) a "T" fitting into it. STEP 2 All you need to do at this point is "T" into the thin metal feed line on the rack itself, be creative


The next is easy, run a hose from where you just installed your "T" into the line up to some sort of breather. I copied Realtime and used a Tilton brake resivour that can be seen in this picture infront of the strut brace: The purpose of this is to allow the rack to "breath" when you are forcing the air and fluid though it. I got mine from Pegasus. http://www.pegasusautoracing.com All of the parts that you need I put together here.

PEGASUS AUTO RACING SUPPLIES - (800) 688-6946
Shopping Cart Contents
Part No Description Price Pkg Qty. Delete
3564 MASTER CYLINDER CAP REPLACEMENT THREADED UNIVERSAL 5.00 Each
3558-SMALL MASTER CYLINDER RESERVOIR REPLACMENT SMALL UNIVERSAL 8.00 Each
3557 MASTER CYLINDER MOUNTING BRACKET REMOTE RESERVOIR REPLACEMENT 9.00 Each
3563 MASTER CYLINDER INLET FITTING REPLACMENT REMOTE MOUNTS ON MASTER CYL 5.19 Each
3577 RESERVOIR CLAMP REPLACEMENT OR REMOTE INLET 2.00 Each
Number of Items: 5 Total Cost: $29.19

When I first install my breather I had the front wheels off of the ground and turned the steering wheel back and forth. P/S fluid shot about 3 feet in the air through the breather hole on the cap because of all the pressure. I then took the line from the bottom of my Tilton Breather and ran it into a drain pan and turned the wheel back and forth until it stopped blowing fluid out. At this point the steering becomes very easy and you will hear the fluid in the rack "slopping" back and forth. You will not have any fluid in the Resivour it is only used as a Breather and possible overflow.

The last thing I did was install a Sparco 350mm steering wheel. it made the car that much easier to drive.

Well If you made it this far, I hope I was descriptive enough, good luck.

Mattj
2011-09-16 15:01:22
#5
I'm not great with steering racks. I assume you could rebuild yours to fix the leak. A new or remanufactured one is probably easier.

As for (temporarily) removing the power steering, you'll want to loop the lines at the steering rack, even though you have a leak there.

Then you have to take care of the belts like you said. There are two belts. One for A/C and alternator, and one for water pump and power steering. You mentioned going without A/C. There is an alternator-only belt available. Greg Vogel at G Spec Performance will be able to get you one, no problem. It is the OEM belt used on SE-Rs with no A/C.

The other belt will be slightly more tricky. You can find out what length you'll need to drive just the water pump and buy one... but you will have no adjustment on the belt since the power steering pump is the pivot pulley.
This is why Greg Vogel at G Spec Performance sells an idler pulley to replace the power steering pump. You could do that.

Or, you can leave the pump in the equation, but who ever told you that you can't loop those lines is correct. It will cause the fluid to heat up way too much and should destroy the pump in short order. You can't run the pump dry either. That will also kill it.
Last edited by BenFenner on 2011-09-16 at 15-05-56.
2011-09-16 15:05:09
#6
Originally Posted by Benito
There is a belt for no power steering because some of the e model and possibly some other b13s came w/o ps.
Yah, but those cars came with what engine?
2011-09-16 18:31:39
#7
1. You can replace the boot, but in order to do that, you'll need to remove the inner and outter tie rods. In order to do that, you need to...etc

2. Rebuild pump or new seals. There are lots of threads online. Pretty much, you remove the pump and take it apart and put new seals in it. And do what the others said, replace lines and reservoire

3. Replace whole steering rack. If you don't mind the work, you can order the rack from rackdoctor.net for $165 or so for a complete OEM rebuild w/ core charge. INCLUDES the boots and inner tie rod. Keep in mind, if you replace the boot, you'll probably need to go OEM and they're $20/each. So you'll spend about $50 for both. (if you don't got da hook up).
2011-09-17 18:35:51
#8
well I put it up on the lift and I def need a new rack. I guess I may as well get into the habit of doing things the right way and steering away from the cheap/easy way out. lesson for the day: do things right the first time and it will save you many headaches in the future!! it usually turns out to be cheaper in the end anyways.

However, I'm still quite interested in trying out this power steering mod from the honda forum above. would love to see what kind of gains we could see in steering response and feel. there must be a few benefits in using a modded power steering rack over a manual rack. I know the power rack has a lower gear ratio making for a better turning radius I believe. lol anybody wanna be the guinea pig??
2011-09-17 18:54:06
#9
Removing power steering, and maintaining the power steering rack is a terrible way to do manual steering. Unless you disassemble the high pressure section of the pinion and then weld the collar together you will always have a buch of stupid on-center play.

Even if you do that, you'll still have steering effort that is much too high since the ratio of the power steering rack is so aggressive. Again, because of the high ratio, you lose tons of steering feel and road input. Whoever says otherwise is disillusion. That "Honda method" described above is ridiculous.


To get rid of power steering properly, you need a manual steering rack. Manual steering racks have their own issues that I dislike, but I'll stop here.
2011-09-17 23:18:09
#10
well i guess its a good thing I didnt try it then lol. thank god for this forum though. only he knows how my car would be right now if I didnt have you guys to tell me how bad some of my ideas were lol
+ Reply To Thread
  • [Type to search users.]
  • Quick Reply
    Thread Information
    There are currently ? users browsing this thread. (? members & ? guests)
    StubUserName

    Back to top