*deep breath*

Here goes. 1991 Pickup, 4WD, 22RE, 269,000 miles

I recently rebuilt my PS pump due to leaking (just wanted to refresh the seals). Well, you know what they say. If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is. After rebuilding my pump, it ran for a couple hundred miles with little to no issue, but I've recently developed a god awful rattle that is PS related. I should also mention that I replaced the pressure hose at the same time as the rebuild because it was deteriorating and showed cracking.

The rattle is undoubtedly PS related because it exists at idle with the steering wheel centered and goes away when I just barely turn the wheel left or right. I disconnected my PS belt to test my theory and the rattle went away. I just have no clue what the rattle could be.

Thinking that I had possibly rebuilt the pump wrong, I replaced it with a reman (also like the idea of a lifetime warranty on the part). Installed the reman, the noise is still there.

I thought it might be the PS tension pulley bearing, so I replaced that. The noise is still there.

I'm kind of at a dead end here. The rattle increases with RPMs, I've tried bleeding the PS system with the bleed valve on the steering gear, and nothing else comes to mind.

Any insight/help is greatly appreciated!

*extra info: I should also mention my water pump is going out. Coolant is leaking from the small drain hole at the bottom of the pump (odd, because I just replaced it 5k miles ago during a top end rebuild). I'm wondering if the rattle could be coming from it? I don't know how that would be related though given that I can stop the rattle by slightly turning the wheel...

 

Regardless, you cannot let the water pump live like that so replace it and then you will know if it was the cause of the sound.
My test is always to grab a fan blade and try to move it fore/aft and see if you get any rocking at the h20 pump bearing, which would indicate it’s not healthy. In your case, no doubt because of the weeping.

 

Absolutely, I’ll be changing the water pump this weekend. Hopefully it cures the noise. Also, interesting note: I’ve found that to bleed my power steering, I HAVE to utilize the bleeder valve on the gearbox. Turning wheels lock to lock just does not purge all the air. I imagine this has something to do with design? I don’t think all vehicles have bleeder valves for PS.