power steering has worked fine since ive had the car. needed to change out headlight bulbs today, and i had to move the power steering res/hose up and out of the way a few inches to get to the drivers bulb (didnt disconnect anything) and now the pump is making a light metal on metal noise and the power steering doesnt work. has adequate fluid, and theres no leaks.

i dont get it, what could have happened?

 

What type of Ford do you drive?

Also post pictures of the hoses you moved. How did you move them?

 

1998 honda civic ex, 5spd, d16y8. i simply moved the resevoir up a few inches out of it's retaing slot, and pushed back on the black hose so i could fit my hand in there to remove the HL bulb.

 

Why is there fluid all over the place? That should have not happened.

 

Do I see some fluid splatter on the reservoir? How'd that happen?

Your picture doesn't give a clear view of the PS hoses. Post multiple pictures showing all the PS hoses from different angles.

 

Agreed look for a leak or low fluid.

Or over filled fluid

 

Yes. Inspect that you didn't knock a hose loose or kink one up.

 

Is the PS belt contaminated with fluid and now slipping on the pulleys?

 

that fluid was from after the fact. it was slighlty low, so i added a bit, and it puked some out when i was going lock to lock trying to work any air out.

it is dark now, so i cant get any good pics, but when i started it and hear the noice, noticed the steering was tough, i looked all around. no signs of a leak.

it was literally perfectly fine before i BARELY moved the res out of the way

 

^^^ no. i'm puzzled

 

Sounds like a hose is pinched. And are you sure no fluid puked on the belt and pulley?

 

positive. however, i will double check everything tomorrow. so i only moved the res around. there are two hose connected to the res, correct? one coming into the bottle from the steering side, and the one going from the bottle to the pump. now that hose i did have to move/bend to get my hand down there, but its a short hose. i visually inspected it afterwards and it looks normal, no bends or kinks.

 

 

Thanks for that. See I'm thinking an air bubble, or I loosened some crud and now that short black low pressure hose going from the res to the pump is restricting enough fluid to enter the pump. Going to pull the bottle and that hose and clean them out and go from there.

Thanks for the ideas fellas

 

I think I would've been inspecting hoses by now instead of waiting on replies, seeing as how ps fluid spill all over the place I'd say something kinked with a big airpocket......dunno...just gotta inspect.

 

Maybe you didn't adequately bleed the system, though it's unclear how air ever got in the system unless the fluid was lower than you thought.

In my opinion, it's best to bleed the system with the front end raised on jacks.

 

It did not puke fluid until I put more in there. I suppose I overfilled it.

I discovered the problem, said to myself maybe I'll top it off to the full mark and that'll fix it. Then it puked a little out. It's dark and cold as **** out now.

I'm going to remove the res clean it and the low pressure hose tomorrow then I'll follow up with you guys

 

All fixed. Guessing air bubble or junk impeding flow.

Thanks gents