yeah i had one of my pals wrench on it with a flat bar while i tightened it haha, make sure you only tighten somewhere between 1/4"-1/2" (i think... check on that) with thumb pressure applied in middle. made it to tight once and it busted on me again... :( , but an easy fix... as for your PS pump gone, good luck haha... but like you said screw the pwr steering, hold off till you can find it in a pick and pull.

[QUOTE=drmmr15]Yea, I replaced the belt too, but it wont tighten all the way. Plus there is a leak from my pressure line and when I look in my reservoir, its all bubbly and foamy. I dunno.[QUOTE]

I\'ve got the exact same problem. I replaced the pump and plugged off the vaccum valve in the back. Bled the system. I\'ve had the pump off twice now, replaced the reservoir return line and I got nothin\'. Same problem as before. I have replaced the entire mechanical steering sytem with rack. Now I am really scratching my head saying what else can it be? But it too is foaming.

Drmmr15 I would loosen the large mount bolt 14mm underneath the car that you can get to after jacking up the car. Then adjust the belt with a long screwdriver as a lever and tighten. Then re-tighten the bottom bolt.

Thanks for the advice. Also, have your tried replacing the pressure line? I think that\'s what my problem is too. Take it to a shop with the belt off, have \'em hook it up, and just have them diagnose it. That\'s what I am going to end up doing. Just a suggestion.

There is a screen in the bottom of the reservoir that gets clogged up and wont let the fluid flow properly. Take the reservoir off and clean it with some carb cleaner and see if that helps.

Your welcome!! Between the two of us maybe we can figure this out. Marks MKII has a good suggestion too, which I will try. But I decided I would drive it yesterday during the morning commute. Was a little stiff by the end of the day the fluid had overflowed out or sprung a leak somewhere. Man this is really getting annoying. I am almost to the point of taking it somewhere, but I am trying not to. I already have countless hours and about $350 in the project to no avail.

I bought a MKIII acouple of years ago and the PS was not working even after the guy had put a new PS rack on. I brought the car home and put a new pump on it thinking that..that had to be it. No fixy. I took the lines loose and made sure the pump was pumping fluid, but I only did it for a second so I wouldn\'t make a big mess. Fluid seemed to run through them fine. So I took the reservior off because it was the only thing left and it was clogged completely up. Cleaned it out put it back together and it\'s been fine ever since. Good Luck


Mark

Mark Thank you for your input.

I spent the day yesterday at a pick a part taking various ps parts to try and remedy this problem. Once I got home I took your suggestion to clean the reservior. There seemed to be a thin film of \'uck on the bottom of it. I took some brake cleaner and sprayed it, some stuff did come out. I decided to take the pump off again and put the junk yard pieces on it, while I had soaked the reservior in cleaner. When I emptied the tank all kinds of a thin film came out and the screen looked about as clean as I could get it. I am letting it dry today and put everything back together in the next day or two. Like you say I hope that does it. I will keep ya posted. Thanks again for the suggestion.

Well I re-installed the PS pump last night and drove it today. The cleaning did work somewhat at least now I dont have to take two arms to steer it. But now it has this horrible whine when I turn the steering and a little stiff. I am thinking what now!!

Air in your lines?

Well I bled the lines on what the book says, jacking up the car and moving the steering wheel back and forth several times with the motor on and off. After driving the car to work today I looked in the reservoir and it looked like the fluid was down a little and not all the way empty. Looks like I may need to do that again or maybe the junk yard pump might be bad too, I dunno. Thanks for the suggestion