Please help! Replacing my Volvo s60 Steering pump

[marcb]

The steering is heavy on our 2005 2.5T at low (parking) speeds - what happens when you rev it a bit?

I've put 3 new steering pumps on (or rather Volvo specialist did) and they do vary. When I say new, these are refurb units and the first two had other faults. The one now on is OK but not brilliant.

However, I think with the 17 inch low profile tyres it's about the best we can get without forking out for a new OEM one and even then it may be about the same. Or putting on a new rack...

[oragex]

Originally Posted by marcb

The steering is heavy on our 2005 2.5T at low (parking) speeds - what happens when you rev it a bit?

I've put 3 new steering pumps on (or rather Volvo specialist did) and they do vary. When I say new, these are refurb units and the first two had other faults. The one now on is OK but not brilliant.

However, I think with the 17 inch low profile tyres it's about the best we can get without forking out for a new OEM one and even then it may be about the same. Or putting on a new rack...

These pumps loose pressure over time. The bore gets increased and it's part of the pump body. No such thing as a true refurbishing to correct this bore, they only replace the gasket at the pulley shaft and clean the pump. The best is to place a pressure gauge after the pump to measure for the 110psi (not sure about the number, it's normally marked on the sticker).

[Brendan W]

Cars of that age had a hex hole in the tensioner arm to unload the belt. Sometime after that the design changed to a TX hole in the arm, TX55 iirc and the original design of hex head screw for the tensioner pulley changed to a flat TX screw.
I get the feeling that Volvo wanted to stop the practice of using the pulley screw to unload the belt which may have had something to do with the spate of tensioner pulley failures around that time.

[citcx]

I bought these. They're just short enough to get a 1/2in ratchet in there. Use a long ratchet, that spring is very strong.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=1771975975008

[marcb]

Originally Posted by oragex

These pumps loose pressure over time. The bore gets increased and it's part of the pump body. No such thing as a true refurbishing to correct this bore, they only replace the gasket at the pulley shaft and clean the pump. The best is to place a pressure gauge after the pump to measure for the 110psi (not sure about the number, it's normally marked on the sticker).

That makes sense - guess the best think to do is look out for a discounted original pump. But the one we have - third time lucky - is pretty much the Goldilocks one so far as can be expected.