Power Steering Issues

[iruvyouskyrine]

Hi all,

I am running an RB25DET Neo in my R32 and using the R34 power steering pump and reservoir. I have added a power steering cooler into the low pressure return line as can be seen in the pictures but apart from that it is exactly the same as factory.

The problem i am having is that i think i have a huige airlock in the system. My power steering pump is making some terrible noises and my mechanic mate said that it is trying to pump air through the system and tats wy it sounds like that. I am inclined to believe him as i had the whole power steering system apart when i took the engine out and it had absolutely no power steering fluid left in it when i put it all back together, so it seems i had perfect conditions to create and airlock in the system.

Many tutorials say to jack the car up, pour the P/S fluid in the reservoir and then turn the steering wheel from lock to lock and just let the system bleed itself and work the air out, but this is not working for me at all. Even with the wheels in the air there is resistance when trying to turn the steering wheel. And obviously it is even harder with the wheels on the ground. With the wheels in the air i have turned it lock to lock probably 200 times and it seems to make no difference at all to how it behaves. My mate said that there could be a bleed nipple or something similar on the power steering rack itself that i can use to bleed the system but from doing a little searching nobody has ever made mention of a bleed point on the power steering rack itself.

The only theory that i have at the moment is that it is my power steering cooler causing the airlock. I will get some photos tomorrow of how i have it set up, but basically i have it upside down in the front bar (ie, the power steering lines run up to it to connect to the barbs rather than down to it)

Any help ideas would be greatly appreciated as i am really a bit stumped at the moment. I don't want to have to drive it round to work the air out as it is making some truly terrible sounds at any revs haha :|

[StevenCJR31]

might seem obvious but have you mounted the cooler with the hoses coming out of the top?

[iruvyouskyrine]

No i have not, and that is what i am guessing the issue might be. The lines run up to the cooler and not down from it, as you can see in my highly accurate MSpaint drawing.

Red is rad support, grey is flat bar attaching cooler to support, black is cooler and green is the power steering hoses.

[StevenCJR31]

me thinks it would be hard to bleed all the air out in that configuration... turn it top to bottom and try that out

[iruvyouskyrine]

Unbolted it from the rad support, turned it up the correct was and lowered it as far as possible and then tried to bleed the system as per normal. Of course with my luck i ran out of P/S fluid and didnt have anymore to keep filling it. But even just doing that if feels so much easier to turn the wheel and the pump has stopper making the horrible noises that it was making before.

So it seems that even though it wasn't the highest point in the system it just didn't want to bleed.

Will fully fill/bleed the system and report back if it's fully fixed