power steering problems

[bluebeard]

Hi all!

New to the forum, been reading through and you all seem a helpfull lot!

Hope someone can shed some light on this problem for me.

2001 pt cruiser 2.0 auto petrol. About 4 weeks ago the power steering stopped working. Checked the pump pressure by loosening the pipe off on the rack and starting the engine. Nothing.

New pump from dealer fitted and all lovely........for a week. Then i started to lose the power steering at tickover and low revs, you lift off the throttle for a roundabout and the power steering wont work until you lift the revs a bit, scary if your not expecting it! This has got progressively worse until now i dont think its working at all.

Ive cracked off the pipe going to the rack again and run the engine and it seems to have pressure there and ive cleaned the reservoir filter out. There is no noise like oil starvation or anything just no power steering.

I used the recommended mopar oil and flushed the system but no good. ive also unplugged the pressure switch incase it was something to do with that but it made no difference.

Im hoping its a dodgy pump which i can send back to the dealer as i fitted it myself.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[quicksilverdon]

Welcome.
Is the belt driving the pump tight and in good shape?