Auxillary belt failed: power steering pump at fault?

[Rob Bell]

Hi chaps,

Our '03 ZTT 2.0CDTi is currently looking extremely sorry for itself (with my wife now threatening to set fire to it). The auxillary belt snapped on Saturday, in heavy traffic on the M25

The power steering pump has been a bit noisy recently - and I've had to top up the level of the hydraulic fluid a couple of times over the last 4-6 weelks. I've not yet done a thorough inspection, but there is fluid residue over the alternator, and I suspect that some fluid will have landed on the belt itself before it failed.

The pump turns over. The AA patrol man reckoned that it was a bit stiff. He may be right, but I've had so little need to look at power steering pumps in the past, I don't actually know how easy these things should be to turn!!!

The working diagnosis is that the pump has been failing/ seizing. There is some tell-tale of rubber on the pulley to perhaps suggest that the belt was over-heating and sticking to the pump drive wheel. I managed to recover the remanent of the belt: 3/4 of it has disappeared, leaving a very narrow belt with a frayed edge: it appears to have walked off the pulley.

So, putting out to all the gurus here, what do we think is the chance that the pump is indeed on its way out and needs replacing?

How easy/difficult is it to change the pump on a DIY basis?

New pumps are not available from X-Part by the looks of things, and second hand replacements appear to come in at around the £30 mark (suggesting to me that these things don't frequently fail, otherwise they'd be costing a lot, lot more).

Help - I'd really rather not sell this car on, but the other half has lost all confidence in it

[Rob Bell]

Any thoughts folks? I've got the workshop manual - replacing the pump ought not be too much of a problem, but it appears that I'll need to pick up my old engine hoist so as to gain access to all the bolts...

[Mike Noc]

Rob I've not changed the power steering pump but it looks the easiest of the bits that are driven from the auxiliary belt to do.

When my water pump bearing collapsed the belt came off but was still in one piece. Even though your belt snapped still worth putting a ruler across all the pulleys and idlers to check they are aligned and spin them all to check for roughness whilst the belt is off.

This was my pump:



Wouldn't worry about fitting a used power steering pump - mine's done 315k miles and still fine so they can go the distance.

Mike

[crofts]

Have to agree Mike. Don't think I have ever seen another member reporting failure of the pump

[philjudo]

Originally Posted by Rob Bell

Hi chaps,

Our '03 ZTT 2.0CDTi is currently looking extremely sorry for itself (with my wife now threatening to set fire to it). The auxillary belt snapped on Saturday, in heavy traffic on the M25

The power steering pump has been a bit noisy recently - and I've had to top up the level of the hydraulic fluid a couple of times over the last 4-6 weelks. I've not yet done a thorough inspection, but there is fluid residue over the alternator, and I suspect that some fluid will have landed on the belt itself before it failed.

The pump turns over. The AA patrol man reckoned that it was a bit stiff. He may be right, but I've had so little need to look at power steering pumps in the past, I don't actually know how easy these things should be to turn!!!

The working diagnosis is that the pump has been failing/ seizing. There is some tell-tale of rubber on the pulley to perhaps suggest that the belt was over-heating and sticking to the pump drive wheel. I managed to recover the remanent of the belt: 3/4 of it has disappeared, leaving a very narrow belt with a frayed edge: it appears to have walked off the pulley.

So, putting out to all the gurus here, what do we think is the chance that the pump is indeed on its way out and needs replacing?

How easy/difficult is it to change the pump on a DIY basis?

New pumps are not available from X-Part by the looks of things, and second hand replacements appear to come in at around the £30 mark (suggesting to me that these things don't frequently fail, otherwise they'd be costing a lot, lot more).

Help - I'd really rather not sell this car on, but the other half has lost all confidence in it

Jules changed the belts on my CDTi a few weeks ago, It was well within the mileage recomendation but the belt had started to split, Better to change them than be on the Motorway with no power steering. He did say if the small one breaks it may take the big one with it. Preventative maintainance is better than cursing and moaning, It's never the cars fault.

[Rob Bell]

Good tip Mike, I shall certainly do that

It's odd if it is the powersteering pump - as you all say, these things are usually very reliable and run for ever - I've never had a power steering pump fault before...

I completely agree with the preventative maintenance comment philjudo - and perhaps slightly gaullingly, this failure has occurred while trying to get the car booked in with a competent mechanic! Hey ho...

More investigations pending, and will feed back once I've worked out the problem

[chris_h]

I had my PAS pump fail at 145K miles. It had a massive fluid leak out of the pulley seal after making noises for a few weeks before. It covered the alternator with fluid. There are 2 types of pump, mine is a '52' reg and is the old style pump. The old ones are alloy and the newer type are made of cast iron. You can retro fit a new type in place of the old type with a minor mod. The low pressure return has a screw in connector on the old type pump, the newer one uses a push on pipe and jubalee clip. So you just need to cut off the old screw connector and get a small clip. When trying to get hold of a pump, it seemed only newer type ones were available. They are not cheap at about 250 quid, I managed to get a new one off ebay for 100 quid. Fitting it was a bit of a pain. The book says you have to take off the top engine mount to gain access, but you can manage without doing this. But to do this you have to separate the pump from its mounting arms which is a bit awkward. You also need a long slim 24mm spanner for the aux belt tensioner. I slackened the tensioner off and then cable tied the spanner in place while I removed the belt and fitted the pump. Then it is only a one man job to replace the belt and then just cut the cable tie release the spanner holding the tensioner and then the tensioner will tightenen the belt again. It took about an hour and half in total. The new pump has been fine since. The old one made a 'gearbox' type whine before it finally went.

[Rob Bell]

Thanks for that Chris. I managed to change the auxillary belt today (and can confirm that a Halfords "Advanced" 24mm ring and open spanner does a good job of replacing the Rover service tool for taking the tension off the belt)

While there I had a look at the pump. The fluid level hasn't changed since I last topped up the fluid level, the pump turns over okay, there is no excess play in the pulley and with the new belt fitted, there is no untoward noises emanating from the pump. Hmm. Do I need to replace it??? It's only 68k miles old. I may play a watching game with this one...

[Rob Bell]

Quick update: all's well at the moment. No untoward noises, wear on belt or anything else. It's all a bit strange - so fingers crossed pump is fine and doesn't need to be replaced. Can't explain belt failure though!