Power Steering Cooling

[carmelcarswholesale]

We just took a 2000 Camaro V-6 to run in SCCA Showroom Stock B class and within four hot laps blew the power steering pump, same with a replacement. We cannot run a P/S cooler like the LS1's and we were using synthetic fluid. Anyone else have any experience with road racing ps pump failure and the solution to stop the failed pumps? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

[ December 23, 2004, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: FirebirdGT ]

[MustangEater8251]

Not sure... but I blew one out, and my replacement is actually whining a little when it bubbles up...

Ls1 power steering coolers will not work? Any reason why I was looking at a used for sale for pretty cheap.

[viper98885]

Use and AGR Super Pump. This is a bolt-on replacement for the Saginaw P-series pump. The Super Pump is designed and manufactured to produce the maximum pressure and flow possible without affecting the pumps durability. Modifications and the addition of proprietary components produce significant increases in flow and pressure over OEM and rebuilt auto parts store pumps.

[cboney2003]

http://www.agrperformance.com/catalo...23&product=133

This should be it..

[MustangEater8251]

ITs a direct bolt in?

Is it that hard to install? Any louder or any other differences with streetability and such.

[viper98885]

Not louder or anything....you have to remove the resevoir from your stock pump and then install the new one. It's pretty simple actually. You can find them in the V6 Steering section if you are interested.

[zlexiss]

Originally posted by viper98885:
maximum pressure and flow possible without affecting the pumps durability. Modifications and the addition of proprietary components produce significant increases in flow and pressure over OEM and rebuilt auto parts store pumps.

You actually want _less_ flow.. the stock pump flows more than twice the fluid needed at high revs than needed, and all the extra flow recirculates, heats up, and boils, blowing the seals. It's the fluid boiling that kills, not a pump weakness.

Turn One Performance Steering modifies pumps to cut down the flow, give them a call at 989-652-0216 and ask for Jeff, they did one for me at a very nice price. They're staffed by a bunch of ex-Saginaw Steering guys who mod pumps for road racing apps now. Along with the LS1 cooler that sits in the lower radiator hose, I have zero problems and don't notice the lower flow rate even turning the wheels at idle. Direct bolt in since it uses the same pump body.

Use a good synthetic fluid (I recommend Red Line), and if you aren't allowed to use a cooler and still are heating up too much, try a larger pulley on the pump to underdrive it some.

-Jeff

[carmelcarswholesale]

Thanks,all...for our application we have to use the stock pump and no add-on coolers, so it looks like the Turn One guys Jeff recommends is just what we need...thanks for the help...Richard

[HBHRacing]

if you tore up the factory one you need to make sure that you flush all the fluid out. It gets contamintaed with all the debris from the old pump coming part and can ruin the new one.

[ARTFART]

Why wont a ps cooler work on our v6's ?

[mrbako]

he can't use one for the class he's racing in.

the car must remain stock

[FirebirdGT]

Originally posted by zlexiss:
Along with the LS1 cooler that sits in the lower radiator hose,

I assume the LS1 cooler is the same as the 1LE. How did you get it in? Would you post a picture?

[zlexiss]

Originally posted by FirebirdGT:
I assume the LS1 cooler is the same as the 1LE. How did you get it in? Would you post a picture?

Edit: image posted at bottom. Thanks for sending this over to the tech archive, I'm flattered [img]smile.gif[/img] Just steal it right off the webspace, I'll leave it up for at least a couple months before we need to rehost it.

You'll need:
-The cooler (of course)
-3/8" hose - most auto shops sell oil/trans cooler hose that is meant to take the hot oil without softening or degrading
-Hose clamps - small ones for the p/s hose and a couple of bigger ones for the radiator hose
-inline 3/8" barbed fitting, to splice the cooler into the p/s system. I used brass, no plastic.
-big tie wraps to clamp the cooler to the radiator

The V6 and LS1 hoses are the same diameter, so the cooler will fit right in. I installed mine on the lower hose, in the long straight run where it cuts behind the radiator. Decide where you want the cooler to be left/right and mark the hose before you uninstall everything.

First I drained the coolant and p/s fluid out, and pulled the lower radiator hose from the car. I also took this opportunity to install the drilled 180* stat from zzperformance.

Use a utility knife to cut the hose at your marks, push the ends on the cooler, and clamp them. I had the p/s fittings on the cooler facing up and back about 30*.

The p/s lines will be spliced into the return line from the steering rack, which feeds back into the p/s reservoir. This line is not under pressure, except what's needed to pump the fluid uphill from rack to reservoir.

I cut the line a few inches after the metal tube from the rack goes into rubber hose, and used a barbed fitting to splice on some fresh hose leading to the cooler. I loosened the metal tube at the rack and rotated it a bit to get a better angle to the cooler.

Being an anal engineer, the rack exit fed into the cooler on the side the coolant is heading to the engine, which gives a crossflow setup to improve cooling. You don't want the hose to be stretched tight from the rack to the cooler, but too much hose can cause it to shift and rub on a pulley or something bad like that.

I plugged some fresh 3/8 hose into the p/s cooler exit (on the side coolant is coming from the radiator), and plumbed it back up to the p/s reservoir. By the way, I'm using hose clamps on all p/s fittings, regardless of barbed connections or not.

I used a few big tie wraps to secure the cooler to the bottom of the radiator, there's probably a more elegant solution out there though.

Refill both coolant (I went to 20% (2 qts) dexcool, a bottle of water wetter, and the balance (~8 qts) distilled water) and p/s fluid (redline). Bleed both systems of extra air and set to the proper levels. Check the p/s level hot, since the additional fluid in the system will expand more and is more likely to overflow if you add too much when the engine is cold.

-Jeff



[ December 22, 2004, 07:42 PM: Message edited by: zlexiss ]