Veeb0rg

The power steering pump is likely shot, and the "wobble" in the pully is from the main shaft moving. Try moving the pully and watching the main shaft of the pump.

Turbo X_J

"EDIT: I purchased a replacement serpentine belt so I will be doing that since it is already off, I am just looking to see if I should do other things while I can."


Replace the water pump and thermostat, check all the hoses, flush the cooling system while your there anyways.

CommanderXJ

I yanked out the power steering pump with the pulley still attached. I've got a new pulley here and I will be picking up a new pump tomorrow however I am clueless as to how to properly install the pulley onto the new pump.

Also, after careful inspection of the old pulley, I noticed a small crack that ran across all the ridges. I am wondering how that happened, I also noticed that the new pulley I bought does not have the access holes so that I can mount it easily. Is there a special brand I must buy, I got a dorman pulley.

CommanderXJ

Looks like I was completely wrong. As it turns out, the water pump had failed miserably (the pulley is way loose) and as a result it was knocking the belt off track causing a whole woe of problems for me. The power steering pump and pulley as far as I am concerned was unnecessary, but might as well as do it now since it is off and done with. The power steering pump pulley did have a nice crack in it however so not all is lost.

Looks like tomorrow I am going to be replacing the water pump. I unfortunately realized the water pump was bad after I had hooked the power steering pump back up, and because the new pulley lacked the access holes for me to unbolt the pump from the mount, it took me about 45 minutes to do it with a little tiny wrench instead of the previous 5 minutes from before.

Kinda kicking myself for not noticing this earlier....but at least it'll have a brand new water pump AND power steering pump....should make things run a bit smoother.

Magiksreal

So... Less than 6 months then. Lol

At least it's fixed, right?

TN_Mike

Good that you found it. Now you'll have a new water pump and new power steering pump. Never bad things.

CommanderXJ

Quick question, does anyone know why the dorman power steering pump pulley doesn't have the access holes for the mounting bolts? This really made the job a lot more difficult and time consuming than it should have been...regardless everything is hooked up now but it got too dark so I have to wait until tomorrow to fill it up with coolant and power steering fluid.

CommanderXJ

Okay, I really need help and I am at a complete stand still. After having everything hooked up (new water pump, power steering pump) I started to fill it up with coolant and much to my dismay...it started pissing it out from the water pump AND thermostat housing. So, now I just wasted about a gallon and a half of coolant because of that. I went ahead and took everything apart AGAIN and tried to pinpoint what the problem is.

The FSM states to put some RTV sealant around the waterpump and mate the paper gasket to it, which I did, but it did not state to put any RTV sealant on the engine block itself. Could that be the issue?

As for the thermostat housing, I applied it to both the housing itself and on the block and it still leaked. Patience is beginning to run dry with this thing as this will be the 5th time I had to take everything apart again, so I want to make sure I am not missing anything.

Modrod

If you have Advance Auto Parts get their water pump. I tried the Autozone and O'Reilly (new and rebuilt from O'Reilly) ones and they both squealed. Took me 4 tries to get one that didn't sound like it was falling apart. The Advance Auto one is a GMB pump, the Azone and O'Reilly ones were A-Cardone pumps. That has been my experience anyway.
Glad you got it figured out.

mdtobe

Just wanted to add my experience with the same issue.

A few days ago I noticed that the serpentine belt on my 1998 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 had slipped over one groove on the power steering pump pulley (toward the back of the car closer to the pump itself). I corrected it, but it slipped back again immediately upon start up.

I took the belt off and found that all pulleys in the system move smoothly with no lateral movement or wobble, so thankfully I didn't need to replace the Harmonic Balancer, Water Pump, etc. But, it did look like the pulley for the power steering pump is a wee bit too far forward (by perhaps half a millimeter or so). It was not pressed onto the pump shaft until it was absolutely flush with the shaft by the amateur mechanic that replaced the power steering pump around 2009 or so (said mechanic was... me).

I bought a new serpentine belt and borrowed the OEM pulley remover/installer kit from Autozone intending to press the pulley on a bit farther. Well, that didn't work out. I could barely get the pulley installer to thread into the threaded hole in the pump shaft. I know I was using the right bolt from the kit because the other one was so small in diameter it just slipped right into the hole right past the threads. Anyway, when I tried to press the pulley on farther, the few threads on the end of the bolt (and probably in the shaft) stripped and gave way, and I couldn't get the pulley any farther onto the shaft. I think the issue is extreme corrosion in that hole in the shaft preventing the tool from threading properly into the hole far enough to get a good grip. The only cure for that now would be to replace the pump and the pulley, and start over - but the high pressure line connection onto the pump is very rusty and I'd probably have to replace that line - and that line's connection down to the steering system is also rusty... and so on, and so on. I don't want to open up that can of rusty worms! (Isn't it fun living in a city where morons can't buy proper winter tires so instead we salt the beejeezuz out of our roads, our cars, and our wildlife?!?!)

So, hoping for the best, and figuring the best would happen, given that the prior belt didn't slip one groove over until it was a solid eight years old, I just went ahead and installed the new belt and so far so good. It's staying in place.

For what it's worth,

John

DFlintstone

If that pulley is indeed the issue, I might try cleaning up,, (chasing), the treads with a tap.

Turbo X_J

I wouldn't fool around with that pulley, if you crack it, game over.

mdtobe

Actually, there were a few nicks in the grooves that I cleaned up with the blade of a small screwdriver. Nothing terrible, and I also inspected the old belt for any signs of cutting or unusual wear (there were none).

DFlintstone

I was talking about the threads that the puller/installer tool screws into. It's been a while, I don't remember how deep the hole is, but there might still be good threads in there somewhere!

mdtobe

Ah, that makes sense. Excellent idea!