94 Xcab 4x4 130K miles


Over the last couple of months my power sterring effort has increased. Mostly at a standstill. When rolling I dont notice any problems. No noises, but at a stop and at idle, its dragging the rpms down and gives a slight "groan". It doesn't seem to matter if the brakes are on or not. No fluid loss.


What do you guys think? I'm hoping its NOT the pump.

p.s. I did the search and only came up replacement procedures. I'm really looking for diagnosis.

Might consider a fluid change. It may be burnt? I had a similar problem and a fluid refresh solved the trouble <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" />
Danny

Well, for one thing it sounds like your idle up vacuum switching valve is not working. On top of the p/s pump is a pressure switch that is supposed to pass vacuum to the idle up controller on top of the intake. Chances ae the line feeding vacuum to the switch is probably plugged up. This would cause your idle speed to increase when the p/s pressure rises.

A recent timing chain job may have led to a pinched hose. I'll check it out tommorow. Thanks.

When I went through my engine a few years ago, I found the hose barb that fed vacuum to the p/s line was totally clogged with crud, had to end up using a small drill bit that just fit inside and used a cordless drill to auger the buildup out.

Hoses and fittings checked out O.K.. I'm gonna try a fluid change.

Even if the hose and fittings are OK (I assume the pressure switch is working) you should get the idle up to happen. Perhaps you just need to turn up the idle-up speed by adjusting the white screw/knob on the top.

After doing a visual check, I backed the truck onto a dirt mound. This was to place weight on the front tires. Turning the wheels resulted in the idle speed increase, but still had an increase in steering effort. Further testing revealed that the increased effort was only turning left. Right turn ,no problem. Return to center, no problem. More RPM's had no effect on effort.

I dont have any binding in the steering at all.

I have a similar problem in my IFS steering box, although mine is harder to turn from about 1/2 turn right of center to full right lock. Turns easy lock to lock going left and from left lock to center going to the right. I suspect it is in the steering box, possibly a seal that is leaking or has disintegrated and is blocking an internal valve. I have the seal kit and just need to find the time to tear into the box and re-seal it.

TATER...

Hey, it's Max from the north side.

I'm probably going to be rebuilding my steering box and installing some form of Hydro-Assist Mid-May up at my place in Cedar Park....you're more than welcome to come on up and rebuild your box, so we can leverage doing two at once. Hell, we could even drill and tap yours (and install plugs) in case you ever decided to go with Hydro-Assist. Do you know John Vargus...from HCOR? He sells the complete seal kits for rebuilding Toy Steering Boxes...not sure if he has any in stock, but you might try getting in touch with him.

Good Luck...and let me know if you want to come over. I think Russ is considering coming over...as I might be bending some tube for various projects. Time will tell...let me know if you want to do the rebuild tandem.

Max