New Guy - 1st problem - power steering

[BluePT03]

Been hanging around for a while before I bought a used PT, thought I'd picked the best inexpensive one with not too much work needed. It came from po with no serpentine belt (and also no splash guard) replaced the belt but the power steering pulley seems out of line, can it be moved? The belt always seems to go back to being half way off and the ps only works on high revs. Thanks in advance for any help.

[rob302]

every time we've seen this here, it's because the crank pulley isn't on far enough

...assuming the tensioner, idler, PS and AC all seem to spin freely and are on properly of course

[rob302]

01 power steering pulley alignment

[Handy_Cruiser]

Originally Posted by BluePT03

Been hanging around for a while before I bought a used PT, thought I'd picked the best inexpensive one with not too much work needed. It came from po with no serpentine belt (and also no splash guard) replaced the belt but the power steering pulley seems out of line, can it be moved? The belt always seems to go back to being half way off and the ps only works on high revs. Thanks in advance for any help.

On some of the early PT's, the power steering pump didn't line up right. So at the factory, they left the press-fit power steering pulley out about a half inch or so on the shaft. As long as the belt is running straight, leave it that way. If the pulley is flush with the shaft and the belt is too far back, take a pulley removal tool and pull it out until aligned. It shouldn't need to come out no more than a half inch.

Also, you can see all this very clearly and more easily get to it if you remove the right headlight assembly.

[rckstein]

Welcome to the forum

[BluePT03]

Thanks for the fast replies, so I should be able to remove the headlight and align the pulley? Also the splash guard, doesn't seem like a great idea to run it without one, I guess I'll have to see if the local salvage yard has one.

[Handy_Cruiser]

Originally Posted by BluePT03

Thanks for the fast replies, so I should be able to remove the headlight and align the pulley? Also the splash guard, doesn't seem like a great idea to run it without one, I guess I'll have to see if the local salvage yard has one.

The bolts that hold the splash guard to the chassis can be really difficult to remove. And the splash guard is easy to just rip off by hand. So from what I've seen, many PT's that have had work done on the right side of the engine will be missing this cover. It can actually hard to find a good one at the salvage yard.

[VsandFords]

Welcome to the forum from Texas.

[BluePT03]

I added an image, hope this works. Hopefully you can see how iris just the power steering pulley that is out of line, can I push it on further without taking the pump out of the car?

[rob302]

i would remove the belt and see if that pump even spins freely. i can't imagine that happening unless the pump was locked and the pulley was slipping on the shaft.

i would assume that needs to be removed from the car, and more than likely will need to be replaced