Power steering pump and Alternator question

[Blizzard242]

Quick question.. I think the pulley on my power steering pump is goin bad.. or it could be the pump itself. I'm not sure, how can I check this? And.. Is the pulley sold seperately from the pump? It's making noises that I know is not good. I'm gonna go ahead and replace the belt since it needs it anyways, maybe that could help but eh. We'll see.
I just bought the car from my brother.. who knows nothing of cars. Pays out the *** for repairs like.. changing a headlight housing at the dealership.. I was like dude.. no. But anyways I have a few repairs to do before I get to do upgrades.
The alternator is bad too and that needs to be changed. I am planning on doin a turbo, cam, heads blahh blahh blahh setup in the future so just wondering if a higher output alternator would be needed for anything while I'm at it anyways. Hmm Maybe I could get a nice pretty one. Any suggestions with that?

[WishIHad$$$]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

Quick question.. I think the pulley on my power steering pump is goin bad.. or it could be the pump itself. I'm not sure, how can I check this? And.. Is the pulley sold seperately from the pump? It's making noises that I know is not good. I'm gonna go ahead and replace the belt since it needs it anyways, maybe that could help but eh. We'll see.
I just bought the car from my brother.. who knows nothing of cars. Pays out the *** for repairs like.. changing a headlight housing at the dealership.. I was like dude.. no. But anyways I have a few repairs to do before I get to do upgrades.
The alternator is bad too and that needs to be changed. I am planning on doin a turbo, cam, heads blahh blahh blahh setup in the future so just wondering if a higher output alternator would be needed for anything while I'm at it anyways. Hmm Maybe I could get a nice pretty one. Any suggestions with that?

You can buy the power steering pulley seperately from the pump, but I doubt the pulley is the problem as it does not have ball bearings or anything to go bad. The pulley is "pressed on" to the pump shaft. Usually when the pump goes, the shaft that the pulley is on is sheared off from the rest of the pump, resulting in no power steering. If it is making noise, make sure your power steering fluid is not low. You could try flushing the power steering system, but the fluid is probably not contaminated. The squeeking noise could be your idler pulley, that is one that I know has ball bearings that can go out.

If you lose power steering, when you take the belt of to replace the pump, see if you can pull the pulley off with your hands. If so, it will still be attached to the shaft that is now sheared from the pump, and you now have easier access to the bolts to remove the ps pump.

You don't need a higher output alternator necessarily, usually the people that buy them have a lot of stereo equipment. Don't buy an alternator from AutoZone though, their diodes are not sufficient enough for GM cars.

[cam98aro]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

i would recommend buying an ac delco alternator also

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

It's not necesarily a squeeking noise but more like a rattle almost. It's definitely coming from the power steering pump area and apparently something was bad with it previously. Yeah I just went through the file he kept.. The power steering pump was replaced at the dealership.. No wonder. And jesus... 71 bucks to remove stones from the cat shield? Seriously? A 5 year old with a stick could do that. Yeah, good thing I got this car when I did. Before anything else stupid happens to it.

And thank you guys I really appreciate it, the feedback is really really helpful.

[kristen]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

deff be fine with a stock alt. lmfao just thinking about what mine is carring lol

[HeadyFirebird'00]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

that car needs some TLC, i think

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

that car needs some TLC, i think

Thats exactly what my brother told me before I bought it. I was like.. yeah I can do that. Then I'm gonna beat the **** outta it at the track :spank: :banana:

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

Alright, I had the belt off the other day, tugged a little at the power steering pulley. It didn't pull off but it was a tiny tiny bit loose. I don't know if that's normal. Is it suppose to be completely solid or is that little bit of play normal? It's an in and out kinda loose, not a tilted pulley or anything.

[ssms5411]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

For the power steering pulley I'm pretty sure its suppose to be tight, since it is pressed on. I'll find out Sat. morning when I replace my front seal on it. All I know is you need a puller to get it off and it needs to be pressed back on to the same spot, so the belt lines up correctly on it. If not it will squeal since it is out of allignment. So maybe that is your problem with it.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

It's not quite a squeel.. more of a loud tick or knock. The steering does feel a bit tight sometimes.. I'm curious if that's because the whole pump is crappin out on me or not. Maybe it's because the belt needs replaced. Which btw.. I'm doin the AC delete so if anyone knows off hand what size belt and routing needs to be done to do this i'd appreciate it.

[ssms5411]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

If it is knocking or ticking aroung that area, it also could be your harmonic balancer. Mine dry rotted from the inside out recently and made a bad knocking sound, got worse as time went by. Just another thing to check while your down there. Sorry don't know the belt length without the A/C, should be in some posts on here somewhere though.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

Yeah, I'll definitely be checking everything before I start adding mods. I want this car to be in tip top shape before I start with the performance parts.
So tell me, if it is the harmonic balancer what can I do to fix that?

[turbohead2332]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

It's not quite a squeel.. more of a loud tick or knock. The steering does feel a bit tight sometimes.. I'm curious if that's because the whole pump is crappin out on me or not. Maybe it's because the belt needs replaced. Which btw.. I'm doin the AC delete so if anyone knows off hand what size belt and routing needs to be done to do this i'd appreciate it.

Are you putting the pulley in place of the compressor or routing yours like mine, which was around everything but the compressor? I don't remember off hand what size the belt was when I found one that fit, but I can tell you I had to go to NAPA to get a belt, b/c Autozone didn't have one that would fit. Besides, NAPA belts are kinda pricey, but worth it. They're pretty high quality.

[ssms5411]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

Pull it off,will need a puller, and put a new one on. Thats if it is the problem though.

[Blizzard242]

Re: Power steering pump and Alternator question

Are you putting the pulley in place of the compressor or routing yours like mine, which was around everything but the compressor? I don't remember off hand what size the belt was when I found one that fit, but I can tell you I had to go to NAPA to get a belt, b/c Autozone didn't have one that would fit. Besides, NAPA belts are kinda pricey, but worth it. They're pretty high quality.

I'd like to just totally bypass the damn thing like you did. Do you have a pic or diagram up somewhere? eh I'll look around.