Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and 
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2007
- Messages
- 2,384
- City
- Michigan
- Vehicle Year
- 1984, 1997
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.
I have a good mechanic friend that had a particular problem with a noisy Ford P/S pump from one of his teachers. It had been back and forth from the dealer (warranty) and none of them could completely get rid of it. So, he tasked my friend with finding the solution (being he was one of the better students in the class)
After pouring through books on power steering he came across a refrence in a dusty old book in the corner that showed a picture of a vacuum assembly that bled the P/S pump, it mentioned specifically that this needed to be done to the Ford pumps in order to effectively get all the air out of the system.
Here is the picture of our solution:
My Red Ranger had a very whiny power steering pump and so it was the perfect test platform.
The picture had a flat piece of clear polycarbonate with a rubber o-ring on it, it had a very similar hose barb on it though. They also suggested a hand bleeding pump.. HA! We have the vehicles vaccum to do that for us.
How we did it:
We took another P/S cap, drilled a hole in it, and threaded in a hose barb that allowed us to use a hose and just hook it up to the vehicles vacuum system.
We also added a resavuar (I can't get it close enough to the right word for spell check to catch it) to catch any extra fluid that might have been sucked up into the tube (and into the engine). Which it actually did suck a bit up, so it is kind of important.
In the top picture we hooked the vacuum gage to make sure it was still pulling good vacuum.
Even though it had been driving around for.. well years, you wouldn't believe the amount of air it pulled out of there. We had to shut the truck off several times and just let it sit to get rid of all the bubbles. It turned it all into a froth, even though it was fresh fluid. But after that settled down for the most part, we just drove around with it hooked up for a day.
That thing went silent. There's only a tiny, tiny bit of whine when you put your head next to it (which might even have been damage at this point).
We also used regular P/S fluid (which the Ranger takes ATF) and that will supposedly make it run louder.
We did the exact same thing when we replaced his G/F's power steering hose on her Sable. Again, we got that pump silent.
IT WILL RUN LOUDER WHILE THE VACCUM IS HOOKED UP. But do not worry, once you replace the regular cap all will be fine.
We also dropped a magnet into the pump (office eraser sized - 1.25" x .75" or so-ish). There's a screen there so it won't fall in, and that also pulled out a fair amount of crap.
Hopefully this may help some of you quiet that thing down, any questions or comments are welcome.
After pouring through books on power steering he came across a refrence in a dusty old book in the corner that showed a picture of a vacuum assembly that bled the P/S pump, it mentioned specifically that this needed to be done to the Ford pumps in order to effectively get all the air out of the system.
Here is the picture of our solution:
My Red Ranger had a very whiny power steering pump and so it was the perfect test platform.
The picture had a flat piece of clear polycarbonate with a rubber o-ring on it, it had a very similar hose barb on it though. They also suggested a hand bleeding pump.. HA! We have the vehicles vaccum to do that for us.
How we did it:
We took another P/S cap, drilled a hole in it, and threaded in a hose barb that allowed us to use a hose and just hook it up to the vehicles vacuum system.
We also added a resavuar (I can't get it close enough to the right word for spell check to catch it) to catch any extra fluid that might have been sucked up into the tube (and into the engine). Which it actually did suck a bit up, so it is kind of important.
In the top picture we hooked the vacuum gage to make sure it was still pulling good vacuum.
Even though it had been driving around for.. well years, you wouldn't believe the amount of air it pulled out of there. We had to shut the truck off several times and just let it sit to get rid of all the bubbles. It turned it all into a froth, even though it was fresh fluid. But after that settled down for the most part, we just drove around with it hooked up for a day.
That thing went silent. There's only a tiny, tiny bit of whine when you put your head next to it (which might even have been damage at this point).
We also used regular P/S fluid (which the Ranger takes ATF) and that will supposedly make it run louder.
We did the exact same thing when we replaced his G/F's power steering hose on her Sable. Again, we got that pump silent.
IT WILL RUN LOUDER WHILE THE VACCUM IS HOOKED UP. But do not worry, once you replace the regular cap all will be fine.
We also dropped a magnet into the pump (office eraser sized - 1.25" x .75" or so-ish). There's a screen there so it won't fall in, and that also pulled out a fair amount of crap.
Hopefully this may help some of you quiet that thing down, any questions or comments are welcome.
Last edited:
