I have had a disturbing clatter. After containing my panic a couple different times that I had a slipped sleeve, I finally decided to put that concern to bed once and for all by running the engine with the accessory drive belt off.

I am much calmer now since the noise is only audible when the belt is installed. That means it is definitely an accessory, and almost certainly the ACE pump.


The first half is without the belt, second half is with the belt. The quiet clatter gets really loud when the suspensions flexes certain ways. I have put fresh power steering fluid in the ACE system using the evacuate-fill-cycle-repeat method The fluid looks clear with a hint of brown. Before the flush it clattered loudly all the time.

The noise is more than I can deal with. Part of me feels like this is the time to drop ACE. I know that the ACE purists will say that it costs as much to delete as to fix it properly, but a delete is done forever, where as a proper fix will wear out again. OTOH, not sure I realistically will put another 175K miles on this car, so wearing out a new ACE pump is probably not gonna happen.

The big question I have is whether this noise is a bad pump, or if it is a symptom of something else like a blocked line or frozen actuator somewhere else. And how would I test that?

 

After a fluid change, I've always added on the last evacuate/fill Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak,
https://lucasoil.com/lucas-oil-news/...d-stop-squeals

I feel it really helps. Was recommended by Disco Mike, long time contributor to these forums. It as worked for me to extend the life of my ACE system. I've put a new distribution block on it, and at 290K miles, still going strong.

 

I will grab some of the stop leak. I knew guys were adding a Lucas product at the end, but was not completely clear on which one. For some reason "conditioner" had stuck in my head. And in general I avoid "stop leak" products as my experience with them is they also can stop flow that is needed. But I trust Disco Mike, so I will grab a bottle and see what it does.

 

I would personally avoid using a stop leak product. They stop the leaks by swelling the seals. That will reduce the life of the seals. I have used it with success on a vehicle that I didn’t intend to keep forever.