Power steering pump - seal replacement

[azzfox]

Hey all, just thought while I have to take pump off soon that I may as well replace all the seals seeing the kits are cheap, and being a commodore it comes standard with a slow leak . But, my Gregorys manual says extensive knowledge is required and advises against it being done by a home mechanic. However, it shows an expanded diagram of the pump and it doesnt look very complicated.

Has anyone attempted to do it themselves?

V6 btw.

[jared_vn]

there is a tutorial in the how-to section that is pretty good. I rebuilt my pump in the S1 VN last week. Power steering is still leaking very badly tho. When you have to take the back of the pump off which is spring loaded make sure you push some wire or a small screw driver through the little hole on the outside of the pump. If i had known this before i did mine it could have saved me atleast 30 mins. Good luck and watch you don't round off the nut on the high pressure hose. i couldnt get it undone so i had to undo the end of the hose from the rack, pull it out and put the nut into a vice. Was pretty dam tight. All the best. Pm me if you got any questions.

[azzfox]

Alright cool. Well I just ordered a seal kit off ebay so in the mean time gives me a chance to remove and clean the pump. Cheers for the help!

[savage1987]

But, my Gregorys manual says extensive knowledge is required and advises against it being done by a home mechanic.

Doesn't that just make you want to do it more?? Like you might have left it alone until you read that, then you just have to? I'm going to try to rebuild my next one I think, my fresh rebuild that I paid money for had a wobble in the shaft.. great.

[azzfox]

Pfft punk-ass service manual thinks it can tell me what I can and cant do. It's not the boss of me! I'll show it!

[azzfox]

Just thought I'd throw this up for all who are interested.

[azzfox]

Well I managed to strip the pump and replace the seals a few days ago. Overall it wasnt too difficult. Very simple pumps. Hardest part is the small snap ring on the shaft (unless you have a snap ring remover). But only needs to be removed if youre replacing the seal on the very front of the shaft, which I did, not because it was leaking, but because a new one came with the seal kit .

But heres a quick Q to whoever has done it before:

In order to access the valve, Im guessing the 25mm outlet fitting has to be removed? I cant see it being any other way. And is it a right or left hand thread? Its a tight bastard and dont want to apply force in the wrong direction.

[azzfox]

Aaaaanyone?

[savage1987]

Azz, any special tools needed for rebuild? and did you find anywhere in particular had a decent kit well priced? My new pump is failing hard, that's another recond one..

[Zuicider]

small i have all the tools, let me know and u can borrow them

[azzfox]

Nah no special tools needed. Just a G-clamp or similar, small flathead and pliers is all I used. Just remember that all the o-rings are different sizes even though they might look the same! And once the end plate is off, everything should slide out piece by piece. But I found the "ring" needed a bit of motivation

I got my seal kit from ebay member "suzukisuper". It was $9 or something plus few dollars postage which includes the two main o-rings, shaft seal, resivour o-ring and valve o-ring. If your pumps failing then it might need more than seals.

Still havnt removed the valve... lol
Not a priority at the moment.

[savage1987]

heh damnit. it's making whiney noises. maybe seal kit won't fix it.. didn't even think of that.

[gontix]

Hey Azzfox, I know this is getting on a bit now, but I've just re-O'ringed mine (VR, but it looks the same). To get the valve out, you need to undo that 1inch (or 25mm) bolt were the high pressure line goes. Its normal thread (undo = counter clockwise) but its done up nice and tight. My manual says its 60-100Nm. Just put him in a vice, and hit your spanner with a block of wood. The O'rings on the other side of that bolt, so unless its leaking out of that bolt, I wouldn't bother even changing it.

Now a question for you. How did you manage to change the front shaft seal. I'm guessing you need to remove whats left of your front pully. And do I need a pully puller to do that?

[azzfox]

Whoops forgot to report back, I did manage to remove the high pressure fitting. I took it to a mates place who has a propper vice but diddnt have a common metric socket to fit. We ended up breaking a shifter before realizing a 1inch socket fits perfectly. Managed to crack it with a breaker bar .

For the shaft seal you firstly need to remove the shaft, and the only thing holding it on is a small circlip directly on the back of it (inside the pump). PITA to remove lol. But once thats off it should fall out. Then lever the old seal out with a screwdriver and install the new seal by tapping it in evenly with a soft hammer (or hammer and socket) until it sits flush to the opening.

[gontix]

lol, I did take the small circlip out but hadn't realized that was the only thing holding the shaft in. It must have been abit stuck or something. Oh, but there was another circlip right down at the base of the shaft (no way to remove it), I thought that one was holding it in, or is that just for the bearings?

Now I just have to decide weather to take it apart again lol (still on my bench). Did changing all the seals fix your leak? Cheers.

[azzfox]

Other clirclip? Later model pumps might be different. Mine has no bearings. Its just one long bush with a spiral groove to circulate fluid through it.

My leak turned out to be a perished return line at the rack end. The hose just shrunk from age and the factory clamp doesnt tighten past a certain point. But new return line + clamps + resealed pump = not a single drop leaks!

[gontix]

Yea, must be different. Cheers for that anywayz...