Okay, here is one for those of you who know more than me to chew on. hopefully it will be an open and shut case:

Last week my power steering pump was making the death wheeze, I flushed the fluid etc. and it didn't really help the problem. I took the advice from another thread, pulled the pump, cleaned it out completely and tried to make a new gasket with some permatex ultra grey. I let it set up and gave it a full day to cure before finally tightening the pump body really well. I blew into the inlet and covered the outlet and didn't notice any leaks.

BUT! once I tightened it down I did notice that the pump did not turn freely as it did when I first removed it. I was careful not to let much of the gasket material squish into the pump body. The pump would turn, but it took a little extra effort. Anyway I installed it, filled the PAS reservoir and started the beast up. Instantly it was leaking nice clean fluid as if my truck had a few too many beers the night before. I assume from this that my gasket repair was a joke. (right?)

I've ordered a new PAS pump and will install it tomorrow, but my real concern is that when I started it up and it was leaking there was a loud steady screaming noise coming from under the hood. it was so loud that I couldn't even tell where it was coming from. I shut it off and felt all the pulleys and checked the belt. the PAS pulley was very slightly warmer than the others. What do you think this means? belt slipping? bearings screaming? hopefully I'll put the new pump in and I'll be fine, but I just wanted to get an idea if I could have caused some other problem without realizing it. To top it all off I have to drive from Virginia to California on Sunday. Won't have a lot of time to troubleshoot.

Also: yes, the pulley was facing the right direction.

Thanks for any help guys!

 

Scream - loud - is usually belt being pulled over something that does not want to turn. Sometimes this can damage the belt, please examine both sides.

Also, if you had belt off, double check route. Discover Discovery Maintenance Tips, Accessories, Parts & More at Roverparts.com

When belt is loose during pump install, turn everything else.

Cross country hike? Well you'll be taking a few tools, might want a spare belt anyway.

Got RAVE download on a USB drive to carry with you?

 

did you remove the old gasket before puting the form-a-gasket on, if so that could be the problem. The distance between the impeller and the pump hosing could be so close that the impeller binds against the body without the 1/16 of an inch or so the paper gasket provides. I have saw it happen on a water pump once.

 

Yeah, I just ordered a spare belt. I'll have enough tools to handle even the bravest of roadside repairs, sadly. and I have a copy of the Rave on my laptop. I should be set there, but you bring up a another question. With the belt off am I hurting anything to turn all the pulleys to check them? I'm not going to throw off any kind of sequence am I?

 

DROWSSAP:

That is a good point, I did remove the old gasket, threw it away actually, and cleaned the surfaces. The old gasket wasn't even paper, it was like super-thin plastic. I saw people discuss using the permatex as a fix, but couldn't I just buy some gasket material and use that? I'm 98% sure that the leak was at the 6 o'clock position on the PS pump where the gasket failed.

 

No, everything will be fine to turn by hand. Note: the big one at the bottom is very stiff (lol).

Now since you will have tools - maybe research the u-pull-apart salvage yards along they way....... you can search their inventory on line.

Pull-A-Part: Used Auto Parts For Less - Pull-A-Part

 

I replaced my ps gasket with universal gasket material that you can buy at Autozone. Much more legit than permatex or RTV. You will have to torque over spec though, just not too much.

 

Update:

Thanks for the help guys,
It was a combination of a few things which everyone either mentioned or suggested. I made a new PS gasket with material, which was better and gave me the clearance I needed for the pump to turn freely, so the leak is gone, and squeal was reduced but I also needed to spray a shot of lube into the AC clutch/pulley/bearing to get the noise reduced to nothing.
Thanks everyone!
Thanks for the help everyone!