cbeats

Hello, I've got a situation which is downright bad.

For months I've been dealing with what was labeled as a bad steering gear box. I had dead spots in both directions while turning. Finally got a chance to get it repaired.... I found a junkyard gear box, had a friend install it. Thought it was a good deal so I went out and splurged on some new tires. Put probably a couple hundred miles on it, steering was great, was happy that I didn't get a bunk gear box from the junkyard. When it was installed, I was told that I might hear some whining from the power steering system , and that it was just air getting out of the system. So, after those couple hundred miles, I heard a real loud whine, I thought it was normal, it ended up going away, but then five minutes down the road I realize that I lost power steering. I look in the reservoir and it's low, not completely empty, but what baffles me the most is the color of the fluid. It is milky whitish brown. Not bubbly, but very creamy. Like a mudslide drink. What really sucks is that at this point I have about 6 more hours of driving in the mountains to get to where I'm starting work the next day, so I HAD to drive on. I got some power steering fluid and topped it off, for the next several hours my power steering goes in and out, which was horrible. Now, it's just not working, at least at low speeds. And I'm in the mountains with a small wallet.

Does anyone have any ideas? Is it just possible that bad luck struck me the day after I spent 900 bucks on other things and that I just need a new power steering pump? Is it possible that the gear box is crap after all? Or that it caused my power steering problems? Is it possible that the gear box is crap and turned my power steering pump into crap? What about the color of the fluid? Should I bleed the system (next question.. how?) and put in new fluid and see what happens?

Thanks for all your input and advice.

the_big_h

Did you check for leaks when you found the level low?
It's possible that there was air in the new box, and you didn't get put enough oil in, so you just ran low on power steering fluid. When the level gets too low, the pump sucks air, and thrashes it into foam - that's the creamy fluid you have now. It can take a long time for all the air to come out of the fluid. (days...)
There is a procedure for "bleeding" the air out of the system - i think you just steer back and forth all the way a few times, with engine at idle.
Worst case is that either your old steering box or the new one, was full of crap, and now your pump is destroyed too.
At this point, you have nothing to lose - I'd suggest keeping the level topped up (if you have a leak it needs to get fixed), and driving on. Every day, run the steering wheel back and forth all the way, avoiding hitting the end of travel.
If it gets better, your good. If not, you'll have to determine whether the pump still works. You'll want to flush the system if/when you change any more parts, to avoid contaminating new parts with crappy fluid.