Date:         Fri, 4 Nov 2005 08:02:50 -0800
Reply-To:     John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Bange <jbange@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Power Steering Pump Squeal
In-Reply-To:  <011001c5e105$73dc7140$657ba8c0@MAIN>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

> I was thinking that one could perhaps notch a 2"x2", say, and put their
> sandpaper in the notch so as not to get the hands involved.... but then
> you
> risk getting impaled by the flying lumber should things go badly.
> How 'bout disconnecting the coil wire and sanding the belt by means of
> intermittently cranking the starter? Still dangerous, but perhaps not as
> much.


Why make things so complicated? I have found that the best tool to avoid
injuring oneself at a dangerous task is a younger brother. Even after years
of use (abuse?), a properly awed and well-intimidated younger brother will
do just about any fool thing with minimal encouragement. This Sunday when I
see him at mom's house, I will send him out for paraffin and set him to
work.

Or you could buckle under and just buy a new belt-


Actually, it IS a brand-new belt, with less than 800 miles on it. That's
kinda why I automatically though "pump" rather than "belt slip". Though I
will definitely check the tension first.

I personally agree with
> the previous advice of just not locking the steering over.


That's been my short term solution. I am very delicate and high strung,
though, and sometimes in the morning I will accidentally go to full lock
while jockeying around the parking garage at work. The noise is quite
shockingly loud and I fear that one day it might cause me to swoon right
there in the driver's seat.

Don't these vans
> have an switch on the power steering system that slightly increases the
> idle
> if the steering is locked over, or am I imagining things again?


Yeah, there's a pressure switch that detects when the pump is under the
murderous strain of trying in vain to compress more hydraulic fluid into a
fully extended steering rack-- and it gooses the idle valve a bit to keep
the strain from dragging the engine down. I assume the pump has some sort of
internal pressure relief valve that keeps the pressure down to something
halfway sane.

My first suspect is belt tension. The pump is old, but I disassembled it and
changed the seals to stop it from leaking last year and it worked fine
thereafter. It only started squealing after being removed and reinstalled
for my engine change. I guess I should've applied the standard diagnostic
query: "what has changed since it worked?"

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
"We'd tell a monkey how to peel a banana, if he said he was peeling one in a
Vanagon."