PlatinumV8

I did not see a FAQ about the power steering pump and serpentine belt tensioner issues we all have to either deal with or worry about.

Now that I have my 2000 LS as my summer drive, my 1990 is occupying my garage for some long needed maintenance and repair.

The tensioner pulley has always made a rattle when cold since I bought the car used. It finally failed completely. The pulley snapped right off the arm. I knew it needed replacement but it is something I did not know when I did my timing belt years ago, should have been done at the same time.

So as I just dove into the repair after driving it around my property running on just the battery for a few months to jockey for position in the garage as I use other cars etc. No power steering in this big heavy car is terrible, I would never try and drive it like that on the road, so bear that in mind if you think you could get by without power steering in a pinch.

The alternator had to come out, along with the passenger side cam and timing belt cover. This of course involves taking the intake plumbing off right up to the throttle body.

I also had to use a three foot breaker bar with 3/4 impact sockets to get most of the bolts to even budge. If you don't know already, the serpentine tensioner assembly covers part of the timing belt assembly.

When the timing belt comes up for service, do yourselves a favor and change out the serpentine tensioner too. It is right there and you wont have to fight the radiator and fan like I did, they will be already removed.

With all that stuff out, I said enough with the leaking power steering pump, time to tackle it and get the engine compartment clean and make it stay that way. The return line was leaking like crazy where it baked and got brittle up on the reservoir next to the exhaust manifold.

Squeezed it with a set of pliers and it cracked apart like glass. Stupid location for a return line IMO.

Here are some pics as to where I am at right now. So do you think I should make a separate write up of these repairs I am doing with the power steering, tensioner, fixing a leaking valve cover gasket, replacing the steering rack bushings and replacing a cold start injector.

I could do individual write ups, but I still want time to enjoy the summer! lol.

Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone!

Debbie

Legender

Nice work... I just did the PS pump replacement on my new to me 1998 as the alternator was replaced but the guy put in a faulty unit. Took it out and had it rebuilt and put in a rebuild PS pump at the same time. It can be troublesome to get to, but can be done if you take your time...as I have another car, that was not a problem for me.
Good work.

PlatinumV8

Legender,

Thanks for the compliment! I agree on needing another car while you do this work. Each time you think you are there, another part needs to be taken off. After two evenings, I got to where the picture shows. My coveralls are soaked in ATF. Time to toss them. Don't want to ruin my new high efficiency washing machine.

I'll post progress as I go, taking the holiday weekend off for some bikini boating!

Debbie

dicer

Yeah over tight bolts come from those nice places people take their cars to get fixed they just impact them up way overtight.

PlatinumV8

Dicer,

You preach brother! Everytime I see someone using an impact driver on a car I give them this face of disapproval. 😡

As far as getting the power steering pump out in general to quote the 'Thunder Buddies' from the movie Ted, "F you power steering pump!" (And the saki drunk engine packaging team). I mean really, there is no good reason to put the return line where they did and not at least protecting it with a heat deflector of some kind.

FYI, the ebay used pump I bought as a spare has it brass screen punched and crumpled at the bottom. I think a lot of these pumps get damage when the fluid is suctioned out.

My process was to use a large animal hypodermic needle with a section of clear plastic hose, pushed to the side of the reservoir so it rested on the sheet metal circular ledge seen in the pictures above.

Once the fluid was drained to that level, the return line could be cut off without pouring fluid everywhere. My mistake was taking off the valve at the bottom of the reservoir while it was still in the car. I had a shop rag resting up there to cover the frame parts and it acted like a ramp and splashed the fluid all over my chest and arm, but turned my head fast enough to keep it off my face.

Leave the valve in place guys, just take the rubber lines off it and save yourselves a bath in power steering fluid.

dicer

So what is required to remove the whole top of the reservoir like you did? For some reason I thought they were crimped on.

PlatinumV8

They are crimped on, but with easily bent back ears of aluminum. There is a rubber seal, so don't dig inward, just along the edges, a tangent angle if you remember your geometry.

I used a pick tipped short 'screwdriver', and a thin flat head screwdriver to twist the ears back, by rolling my wrist, enough to bend them back enough to pop off the top of the reservoir. It would be very hard to do with the reservoir still on the car.

It was frustrating at first but after getting one tab to pry clear the technique was pretty simple to replicate. The reservoir is not highly pressurized and has a thick rubber gasket so crimping it back on is just tapping with a small hammer with a short screwdriver and you are done.

If you look close at my picture above you can see the ears pried back.

dicer

Nice to know. So is the gasket good enough to reuse? Machinist types know geometry fairly well so I got that covered.

PlatinumV8

Yes, it looks reusable to me. It is seated well in the cover and is quite 'cushy', so to speak. I looks like it is there to prevent sloshing fluid during hard maneuvers from leaking out, not from constant contact with fluid. I have always kept my fluid at the correct level or a bit lower, because I tend to be a pretty aggressive driver when it is safe to cut apexes and add power early and often.

My nickname with this car and before with my black LS, was The Transporter.

When your sister gives you fingerless gloves for Xmas, you might have a problem. Lol!

PlatinumV8

Here are some pics from my phone I forgot to post. It gives a clear view of which type of serpentine belt tensioner goes with the first gen LS.

One pic shows the bare metal of the return line port where the rubber line came apart like glass when squeezed with a set of small pliers. The screwdriver shows the chunked out section and is why there is fluid covering everything. That and the valve on the bottom with the two plastic prongs and vacuum lines.

The rest are pretty self explanatory and why IMO you should change out the serpentine tensioner when you do a timing belt on high mileage examples like my 90. The tensioner pics are taken from low and on the passenger side, near where the alternator is bolted on.