Power Steering 101 - Detroit Speed Tech Talk Ep. 006

[@shanemorris702]

Please keep making these tech talks. They're great!

[@RussellBooth1977]

I've had an issue with the power steering in my Holden VY SS Commodore pretty much ever since I got it. Firstly, it's Fitted with a 5.7 litre Chevrolet LS1 V8 engine & it had custom exhaust headers fitted when I first bought the car in 2008,the header pipes came very close to the rack ends & when the car was about 6 years old it was leaking some power steering fluid,I also rebuilt the power steering rack for it in 2010,I rebuilt a second hand unit as I needed to drive the car. The power steering was stiff when I first bought it & it was in about 2013 that I bought & modified a hydraulic pressure gauge which had a shutoff valve Fitted (a dead head valve) so I can test & isolate both the power steering rack & the power steering pump,it turns out that it was only putting out 65 BAR at the pump instead of 75-82 BAR which it was supposed to. I pulled the pump apart & I found that the flow control (bypass) valve inside of the pump was stuck open which was the reason why I had stiff power steering so I thought,it had crap jamming up the valve as it was stuck. The power steering was still intermittently hard so I have lived with that for years,the rebuilt rack lasted for about 9 years before I rebuilt the original rack which was originally fitted into the car but I kept continuing to have the same problem,I did test the pressure of the power steering rack with the rebuilt rack fitted & it was about 80 BAR which is good but I was still having problems with the steering. I did upgrade the exhaust headers to a set of Genie 1 5/8" mandrel bent tri y exhaust headers which kept the downpipes away from the power steering rack ends & I even replaced the flow control valve inside of the power steering pump. I pulled it out last night & for some reason it was a little bit scored & burred up so I was sure that it was sticking inside of the bore,I replaced it with a spare 1200 PSI Saginaw flow control valve which I had in a spare (Buick 3.8 litre V6) power steering pump last night but the steering stiff still. Note that I can reuse that scored & burred One now since I stuck in a cordless drill chuck then cleaned it up with wet and dry sandpaper, surprising,the pump body looks good internally where the flow control valve is fitted. My theory is that the power steering system. Is getting too hot,the headers still come very close to the power steering Racks spool valve which I think may be the problem,it also causes starting issues when the engine is hot as cylinder number 6 exhaust primary is very close to the starter motor solenoid.therefore it gets too hot,my car is right hand drive being built for the Australian market. I have ordered some heat bandage which I believe is the solution to the problem,it does need a wheel alignment but I don't think that's the problem,I don't want to throw a new pump at it just to try and fix it either. If it's not heat causing it on the drivers side then I want to get an infrared thermometer then Start measuring some temperatures to determine if I need to run any other oil coolers or not,I think that the heat bandage Will suffice I think !

[@RestoCar]

Great overview and very informative . I learned a lot from this video. Thanks 👍🏻

[@jessemarinjr6374]

Great Presentation and Quality Parts ! Just wish you were located in Nevada !!

[@fogtown3027]

I know your guys power rack is the best because it’s in AME’s sport clips 😉

[@jcook69camaro]

what is the part number for the gpm fitting

[@shanemorris702]

I spy Foxbody Easter eggs!!!! Woo hoo!