Hi Scotti
I have a 2011 Santa Fe. The high pressure hose for the power steering leaked and the pump started why-ning. The car was driven about 5 miles until my wife could get it home like that. I changed the hose and replaced the fluid with genuine Hyundai fluid and the car worked for about a week. Then the steering rack started leaking. Once again my wife limped home with the now familiar pump why-ning. The dealer changed the rack and the car worked OK for a while. Now after 3 months the wheel is difficult to turn. I turn off the engine and the wheel will barely move so I know the power steering is doing something but it feels like your driving a tank. I am wondering if the short time the car was driven without fluid would have damaged the power steering pump. The pump is quiet and the fluid level is normal. Is there a way to measure the fluid pressure or verify the pump? Is there a way to measure the resistance in the steering wheel is in specification? Any other suggestions. Otherwise the car works fine so I want to hang on to it couple more years.
Thanks for the help.
If you think I screwed up by not changing the pump in the first place please don't tell my wife. {black}:smile:
I borrowed a high pressure gauge and tested the power steering pump. It is only putting out 400PSI dead headed. The manual says it should be 1300PSI. It figures the pump was ran dry when the rack leaked. The new rack is in. I have a new pump on order. In the mean time I read the pump's changing procedure out of the official Hyundai manual. To purge the air out of the system it says something kinda odd.
1 Disconnect the fuel pump fuse
2 Fill the reservoir to the top level indicated
3 Start the engine and allow it to stall.
4 The fluid level will have dropped while the engine was running
5 Crank the engine using the starter while adding fluid until the level in the reservoir stops dropping. Do not run the engine while adding the fluid as the turbulence in the reservoir will entrap bubbles in the fluid.
Any of this sound strange? Deliberately disconnect the fuel pump and let the engine stall? Any risk to injectors or other fuel delivery components? Do you then have to bleed the injector rail? The manual does not say how to recover from this. Can the starter take it? I put one starter in this car 3 years ago.
Help Scotti-One-Kenobi. Your our only hope!
It does sound a bit odd. My best guess is that as they indicate you do need to crank the engine without starting to bleed the pump, but if you do that by disabling the ignition instead of the fuel pump you run the risk of flooding the cylinders with unburnt gasoline. This can wash lubrication off the cylinder walls, dilute the crankcase oil, and might even damage the catalytic converter when you start it up later. So the preferred method is to let the engine run out of gas.
Replaced the power steering pump over the weekend and the power steering is back to normal. Also changed the PS fluid. Took apart the old pump and the wall that the vanes ride on was all chewed up. No doubt this is as a result of running dry. This pump is a vane type pump like the ones in old oil fired furnaces. I remember if you ran them dry they were instantly destroyed.
So just to recap
12/10/2020 replaced high pressure hose.
12/28/2020 dealer replaced steering rack.
8/16/2020 Replaced power steering pump.
It's the last thing in your power steering system that hasn't been replaced, so the pump is definitely suspect. Here's a video on pump diagnosis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RRbFiro4ps
However it could also be a problem with the new rack. I'm kind of surprised the dealer didn't also change out the pump as a matter of course since if it was damaged it could be emitting debris. That may well be what damaged your original rack and if that pump is still shedding debris it could have damaged the new rack as well.
The fact that it worked for week after fixing in the dealership, tells me that the rack can be faulty. Go to a independent shop and have them check it.
This is why you should never take your car to a dealership. Find an independent, honest mechanic.
The dealership repair was free. This was the last year Hyundia gave to 10yr 100K mile warranty. There was a month left on the warranty when I brought it in. Is there a Scotti Kilmer video on diagnosing a power steering?
I haven't seen one from Scotty that goes into depth but there are quite a few videos from others on youtube if you search. One thing simple to check is jack up the front of the vehicle to take weight off the wheels. The steering wheel should turn smoothly and easily.
If you're lucky it will just be a weak power steering pump. Hopefully the pump running that long without lubrication has not caused it to shed metal grindings internally that are causing problems with the rack.