schmooot

97 LX450, 4.5L. I just received this in my shop. It came from another shop where the mechanic had fixed an oil leak at front cover of the pump. Now there is no power steering whatsoever. Previous mechanic had no idea and told him to get the system flushed which he did. No change. Now it is sitting in my shop and I'm lost.....and the owner brought me a new ps pump to change but I don't want to do that until I can be certain of the problem

From looking at the system, it doesn't seem that these two instances are connected. The mechanic should not have even had to touch the ps pump, or open up any lines to justify needed a flush or a burp. Is this just a crazy coincidence or are these systems connected more than just relying on oil pressure?

schmooot

turns out the previous mechanic did not tighten the bolt for the crank pulley / harmonic balancer.

I just spent 5 hours troubleshooting what turned out to be shoddy workmanship previously

For future googlers, and reference. If the pulley bolt is not torqued (305lb-ft) the ps pump will not generate enough pressure to run the system.