Today I was out 4wheeling looking for some new lakes to fish in. I did some small rock crawling and then start heading back and my truck starts to heat up a little bit. which has never happened. I decide to stop and let it cool for a while. so i get out, pop the hood, and look around to see what's going on. then my power steering hose. the one that goes from the reservoir to the pump starts shooting fluid out the sides. I soon can't even see my engine and then just wait for it to cool so i can look at it. when the smoke clears all the rubber that was on the hose has melted off leaving the wire behind. So long story short my power steering is gone. I'm hoping all i have to replace is the hose. What i was wondering is if i can hurt the power steering pump more if i drive with out the power steering while waiting for the hose to get in. I'm pretty sure i was just low on fluid. Any info on power steering would be much appreciated. it's one thing that I've never worked on. oh, and it's a 90 pickup with a 22re.

 

You cannot run the pump w/o fluid. If you take the pulley you should be fine (i think). Does that belt go to anything else?

Maybe someone else will chime in.

 

its not good to for both the steering box and the pump. you could pull the belt off and run without it, but that is also hard on the steering box, because there is no fluid running through it. i would get that hose fixed asap

 

That's what I wasn't sure about. I knew the pump would be in trouble, but that removing the belt would prevent that...wasn't sure about the box though.

 

take the belt off temporarily. it will get you around. but fix it ASAP

 

thanks guy's. I'll just ride my bike tell i get if fixed. Hose comes in Monday so it shouldn't be to long. I just hope the pump isn't gone.

 

and hopefully it was just the hose that failed.

 

There's a screen in the bottom of the reservoir that's used to filter out particles in your fluid. It's a good idea to clean it out while you have the PS system apart.

 

thanks i definetly will do that then.