Thread: Do I need a Power Steering Cooler?

Tweet

I have a 400 in my '53 and when the engine is cold, the power steering works fairly well. When I take the truck for a drive, and the engine gets up to working temps, the steering gets really hard to turn when I am stopped. The power steering pump is really hot to the touch (seems fairly normal, however). I am thinking that I need a cooler for my power steering fluid as it is probably getting too hot and losing its viscosity and effectiveness. Does this sound logical, or is my pump on its way out? I have seen power steering coolers on alot of trucks... Thanks for the feedback

try bleeding it out, jack the front off the ground, open the cap, turn the wheel left then right, start it up, turn wheel left and right but not all the way to the locks, because at the locks the pump will go to full output and screw any chances of bleeding out until it cools down. it might be cavitating, does the pump sound funny?

Originally Posted by Matt167

try bleeding it out, jack the front off the ground, open the cap, turn the wheel left then right, start it up, turn wheel left and right but not all the way to the locks, because at the locks the pump will go to full output and screw any chances of bleeding out until it cools down. it might be cavitating, does the pump sound funny?

It has a "brushing" sound when I'm driving.

I think your pump might be going bad. have the output checked at a garage when it's hot. even if you get a set of the gauges to check it, you have to be careful or you could burn it out. can't check output PSI with the valve closed for more than 10s or damage to the pump will result, and there are a couple other tricks to getting accurate readings.

Originally Posted by 53fatfndr

I have a 400 in my '53 and when the engine is cold, the power steering works fairly well. When I take the truck for a drive, and the engine gets up to working temps, the steering gets really hard to turn when I am stopped. The power steering pump is really hot to the touch (seems fairly normal, however). I am thinking that I need a cooler for my power steering fluid as it is probably getting too hot and losing its viscosity and effectiveness. Does this sound logical, or is my pump on its way out? I have seen power steering coolers on alot of trucks... Thanks for the feedback

a GM pump and a FORD box might not work good togother. ??????? (if thats what you got.)just an idea. if you need a cooler you'll know it, because it will boil the fluid and blow it out of the pump.

If you have the gm pump on a ford box you need a different pump valve. There are aftermarket valves available for this purpose.

Actually, it is a 400 Ford with the Volare steering box. There are quite a few guys running Ford pumps with the Volare box, and I haven't heard any issues.

I have and am runing a GM pump and Ford R/P no problem