Need Help with Power Steering Leak

OK. This is kinda a long story, but I'll try to keep it as short as possible. Originally posted at DH.

Car is 2008 GT with Saleen Series VI supercharger. Car has ~8,100 miles on it. And it's somewhere around 2 months out of warranty (figures right?)
About 1 1/2 months ago, car shredded the serpentine belt. After I put a new one on with no apparent issues, it developed a power steering fluid leak. It took awhile to find the leak but finally found that it was the power steering pump itself leaking at the input shaft.

I got a rebuilt pump from rock auto and installed it (they are not real fun). The leak was apparently stopped for maybe a week or so (less than 50 miles in that time) and then came back again. It was at the input shaft seal again. I got rock auto to send me another pump under warranty thinking it was just a coincidence that the new one leaked at the same place. Finally got the 2nd one installed and was getting ready for B vs. F thinking that this one was going to hold after a couple of days of no leaks. But, the leak came back again. And again, it was at the same place.

So, at this point I'm thinking that it was just crappy rebuilds coming from rock auto because they were quite abit cheaper than any one else that I could find. I ordered another pump through NAPA (paid about 2x the amount rock auto charges)with an external inline fluid filter too thinking that maybe there's still crap in the lines or whatever (this was suggested quite abit in my internet searches on the subject)..

During this time I thought maybe it was a bent pulley or whatever, so I got a new one from Ford and also got a new fluid reservoir because the old one had some crap on the filter screen inside of it. During this time I also found what I think caused the original serpentine belt to shred. The Saleen alternator pulley had one rib/ridge on it that is apparently higher than the rest causing it to cut the belt (the high rib is shiny, the others are black). So, I got another one from Saleen.

So, yesterday I finally got all the parts. Put it together with new pump, pulley, filter, reservoir and alternator pulley. I flushed out the system pretty thoroughy with new fluid before I put in the filter. Put in the filter, and then bled the system with the front tires still up in the air. I was trying to cover all the bases since I really don't know what was causing all these problems.

I took it onto the highway to test drive it and took it about 1 1/2 miles south and uturned and came back about another two miles north. When I uturned to come back to the shop the pump started growling and I knew that it had started leaking again. And it was pouring out again when I got it into the shop. I babied it like crazy during this test drive too. Making sure everything was good before I hammered on it.

So, what have I been doing wrong? I am at a total loss on what to try now. The steering system has worked flawlessly after every one of the pumps until the front seal lets go. I was so pissed-off last night after it started leaking again that I just parked it and closed up for the night. I'm almost sure it's leaking this time in the same place.

This problem caused me to miss B vs F and Mods vs Rods this year and I'm about to take it to the dealership and that's like admitting total defeat to me. I've been wrenching on cars for about 28 years now and have never had anything give me this much trouble.
Any ideas before I give up??? I'm at the end of my rope on this thing.........
Thanks for reading,
Phil

That's pretty crazy, I can't imagine your frustration. Only thing I can think of is the belt tension/correct belt size? Have you called the dealer and asked about any TSB's on this? Maybe one of our members that work at a dealership can chime in????

Thanks man! I'm hoping that there is something small that I have overlooked that could be a problem. Maybe someone works on these kinds of things that knows where the problem is.

wow that is crazy. can't think of what the issue could be.

i would also wonder about the correct belt size, but can't imagine you would get the wrong size. could it be possible that the tensioner could be messed up. really just brain storming.

i can't remember how the p/s pump mounts. if it's a bracket could that possibly be bent just enough to put the pulley out of alignment

I would look at the possibility your spinning the PS pump pulley too fast. Belt routing could affect this, the pulley on the alternator you mentioned could be a different size from the factory piece? Also I'd look at belt alignment. With the Saleen S/C and on down the line. Does/did the SC require a new crank pulley to drive the SC or does it run serpentine style with all other components? My guess is something in the pulley additions/changes from the SC is causing the PS pump to spin wrong. Probably effectively "over driving" the pump. Belt routing can cause this. Is it possible the belt should/could be routed a different way?

Psycho Bob wrote:i would also wonder about the correct belt size, but can't imagine you would get the wrong size. could it be possible that the tensioner could be messed up. really just brain storming.

i can't remember how the p/s pump mounts. if it's a bracket could that possibly be bent just enough to put the pulley out of alignment

I did have a little shorter belt on it when the other one shredded. It was only 3/4" shorter, but I changed it to the proper length one when the first replacement pump went bad. The pump has a little spacer bracket thing, but it pretty much bolts to the engine. Not much there to go wrong really.

07Shelby500 wrote:I would look at the possibility your spinning the PS pump pulley too fast. Belt routing could affect this, the pulley on the alternator you mentioned could be a different size from the factory piece? Also I'd look at belt alignment. With the Saleen S/C and on down the line. Does/did the SC require a new crank pulley to drive the SC or does it run serpentine style with all other components? My guess is something in the pulley additions/changes from the SC is causing the PS pump to spin wrong. Probably effectively "over driving" the pump. Belt routing can cause this. Is it possible the belt should/could be routed a different way?

I'm pretty sure that the pump is in the stock location and the pulley is stock too. I just ordered the new pulley from Ford, so it's the factory stock piece. It shouldn't be overspinning the pump. The supercharger runs off of the serpentine belt and no changes to the crank pulley. The only configuration change is the alternator has a different pulley and it (the alternator)is turned backwards on a Saleen bracket.

The Saleen kit had a sticker that is under the hood for belt routing, so I think that it is ok too.

I see where your going with your thoughts because I feel that for some reason that it is overpressuring the system and the seal in the pump is the weakest part of the system. I'm wondering if the rack has any sort of bypass valve or something that is malfunctioning. My dad seems to think that the high pressure line from the pump to the rack has a restriction in it, but I would think there would be steering issues with it if this were the case. It has worked A+ all this time except for the fluid leaking.

The only other thing that I left off of the original post, is that it does have an aftermarket tensioner on it. I put the Thump RRR heavy duty one on there at about 2,800 miles, so it's been on there for more than 5,000 of the 8,100 miles the car has on it. It does not seem to over tension the belt, it is not hard to get the belt on and off of the pulleys even when I had that shorter belt on it for a little while.

Thanks for the ideas guys. Every thing mentioned here makes me rethink the whole situation

Id carefully check the alignment and put the other tensioner and belt on. I don't know anything about your tensioner but anything is possible. I know that you've been working on cars a while but everyone needs to be told to step back and look at things differently on occasion. Recheck the things that you assume are fine because one of them isn't. Also if you haven't done so Id observe the belt system while running at various rpm's.

I wouldn't think its over tension that wouldn't cause the seal to go out on them all. You would have a wabble on the shaft and a squeaking noise I would think.

Over pressurization of the system sounds better - your blowing the seal out. I would check all your lines for clogs and also your steering rack. You can only replace so much stuff before the whole steering system is new haha.

that tensioner is a great one.....................i mean it sucks you should just put your stocker back on and i'll take that piece of crap off your hands

Psycho Bob wrote:that tensioner is a great one.....................i mean it sucks you should just put your stocker back on and i'll take that piece of crap off your hands

This made me chuckle!!

yamanx wrote:I wouldn't think its over tension that wouldn't cause the seal to go out on them all. You would have a wabble on the shaft and a squeaking noise I would think.

Over pressurization of the system sounds better - your blowing the seal out. I would check all your lines for clogs and also your steering rack. You can only replace so much stuff before the whole steering system is new haha.

Yeah that's true. I'm deciding whether to replace the steering rack and the rest of the hoses or just let the dealership fix it. If I replace those couple of things and put another pump in it, that would pretty much be the whole system (besides the "cooler"). LOL

I'd check all your lines, including cooler and see if it easily passes fluid. The rack should pass fluid pretty easily too..I would think not %100 for sure on that one though.