So I go off the highway and pulled into a plaza for 5 min went in a store and when came out and started my car the steering was tight....... i was not low on fluid really it showed on the tip of the stick but I added some anyways..I does not seem like adding more helped. How can you tell if it's a pump or a rack problem?.

 

Lift the front end and see if it's still hard to steer. If so, it's the rack or suspension. If not, then it could be the pump, but still could be the rack. You haven't done any recent work on it have you?

 

No front end work just mounted 2 new tires 3 days ago. that is it ......it was fine after the mounting until today .I lifted the car off the ground and the wheels turned left to right no problem. There seem so be 50% power assist.... I need help on the removal process any DIY links

 

Try this:

http://benzbits.com/w203/PowerSteeringPumpM272.pdf

 

When it is cold outside I experience the same problem as well - 50% loss of power steering. One thing always helps - engine restart. Happens to me quite rare and when it is cold out there (in 30s).

 

Hey there.
I installed a used PS pump and was not too bad to do , well after all my hard work I stated the car added fluids and the steering was good
There was allot of ai bubbles for about 5 min and a bit of nose but is all settled down. All was good for about 20 min I can home ,then I went back out 3 hours later and the steering was bad again WTF
so Im thinking the original pump was fine and its something else but what?

 

OK so tomorrow I guess I’m gonna put the old pump back in and try to return this use the org pump so I can get my $80 back because I think it’s safe to say it’s not a pump problem but can anybody figure out what the hell this is I jack the car off the ground and I was able to turn the wheel freely left to right I don’t know if that tells us the rack is in good condition please excuse any punctuation as I’m on my phone using text to speech but is there an air bubble somewhere inside that maybe created day one when this first happened but how would that be possible .Again I was driving around I pulled into ER grocery store and when I got back in my car I noticed my story was acting a little weird after a few minutes it seemed OK but then by the time I got home five minutes later it just got worse and worse to do nothing within five minutes so no what happened today when I replace the pump it seem good for about 20 minutes I come home I get back in the car I start to turn it and it slowly starts to get worse and worse and that it’s gone again

 

Here's the bleeding procedure:

http://benzbits.com/w209/PowerSteeringBleeding.pdf

Note that it mentions how difficult it is to remove trapped air. I heard one guy who said he had to turn his steering wheel back and forth hundreds of times to finally get all the air out. He also manually rotated the pump a few turns after every 10 steering wheel cycles.

 

OI will try that later . If anybody’s looking for help on how to take these pumps out hit me up on a private message .It turns out that one of the simplest mis to separate the reservoir from the pump there’s a C clip in order to do that once you do that you can get the two bolts in the back easily.One bolt is for the ground wire the other bolt is a crucial bracket bolt. One bolt is for the ground wire the other bolt is a crucial bracket bolt Another trick is there 2 bolts upfront In order to get one both out you’ve got to move the belt tensioner pulley out-of-the-way 60 mm socket will do that with a big wrench little tips and tricks want to get these tracks the whole process is about 30 minutes to get out to very simple but the main main thing is to separating that fluid reservoir from the main pump really helps you get your hands on the back of the pump to get those bolts I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how I could get to them because I didn’t want to separate the reservoir from the pump because I was afraid that I may damage the rubber grommets that’s helps seal the reservoir to the main pump but I didn’t you’ll know what I’m talking about later on when you see it I’m using text to speech on my phone so excuse any punctuation’s or misspellings

 

I’m gonna try the bleeding process again but I just want anybody reading this form to understand that the replacement pump acted precisely like the old one it worked great for about 20 minutes and then that one crapped out and it crapped out in the same fashion as the original one I got my car it was acting a little flaky and then two minutes later it was completely gone the new pump did the same thing when I installed it and acted great for about 20 minutes Then I got out of the car let it sit for an hour got back in the car started it up it seemed fine then about 20 seconds later it started acting flaky and then about a minute later it was completely gone back to not working and that’s the second pump I’m wondering if something is getting stuck in the rack or is there a seal broken but that wouldn’t make sense the only differences I drained all the fluids out of the old pump and refilled it I want if I should flush it again I’ll keep you guys posted sorry about the run-on sentence is I’m using text to speech while walking my dog

 

What car are you working on? I though the CLK350 with the M272 engine had an external PS fluid reservoir, not directly attached to the pump?

 

The reservoir is technically not part of the main pump..There is a clip that helps the reservoir attach to the pump....If you look at this picture there is a clamp in the middle or top of the cut hose is there is a coupling in there what is that ? could is be blocked what that? its the return hos I thinks. I was looking at that yesterday and felt is as if there a filter in there maybe it clogged and since I'm reusing it I have the same result as the old pump? the reservoir is not the original ...The fact that it was drained when I replaced i could have un clogged or un blocked it temporary

 

So here is something interested and may shed some light. I removed the return rubber hose to replace it with another as a test ... I lost a little fluid but got the new hose on, when I started the car the steering was great for about 20 seconds then got tight and back to where I was. my question is why is is when I remove the hose and re-attach it the steering is good for a few seconds?
I read the bleeding instructions and it says to raise the vehicle and move the steering left to right while the filling or adding fluids and check for bubbles .....

 

Is it because you removed the hose, or just that you stopped and restarted the engine?

 

SO I spoke to the salvage your that sold me the pump, he said may the old pump had debris and clogged the line or something int he rack ? That may be why the other used pump with 33k only worked for 20 min then failed. Could he be right ? can I flush the system (rack) ? The fluid seemed ok clear but I could be wrong...any ideas

 

Can somebody tell me what that solenoid piece is on the top of the rack I’m looking at it right now it looks like some type of electric goal component do we know what that does wondering if that’s failed on me

 

That's part of the "parameter steering" option, which is the variable assist functionality.

 

So any suggestions on what you guys out there think I should do a flush the power steering system because there may be debris in the rack causing the clog which really sounds like this is the problem or just replace the entire rack or try one and then the other and if so what is the suggestion on flushing the rack reverse order any ideas out there because it has to be some type of debris clogging also anybody have any tips to see if it’s actually circulating should I disconnect one holes and keep another connected to see if there’s actual circulation any tips and tricks would be great guys sorry for the punctuation I’m using text to speech

 

I figure with some ingenuity and a few "things laying aroud the garage", you can work up some sort of manual pump system to flush out the rack. Get plenty of Pentosin CHF-11s to have on hand for it. BTW, I sometimes use text-to-speech, too (not on the forums, but sending email and such). My Android phone recognizes most punctuation verbalized in a monotone voice after a slight pause.

 

Here’s my plan. I’m going to train the power steering fluid by disconnecting some hoses on the rack. What I’m going to do it with the car off turn the wheel left and right and that should expose enough pressure to pop anything out I hope. Then I’m gonna start the vehicle for about 20 seconds only using my old pump that’s in there now so if it gets damaged I don’t care. After that I’m gonna use some no-name brand power steering fluid and this will be used in order to watch the circulation. Let me know if this is a good idea I’m going to disconnect the rubber hose that goes from the reservoir to one of the lines on the rack and I’m gonna put that hose directly into the fill cap on the reservoir I’m going to just plug that in so it doesn’t leak out obviously and I’m gonna see if there’s flower not this is my plan prior to doing all this because if I have flow that it has to be something else.

 

Can anybody tell me prior to doing this I forgot to mention it in my last post what lines should I disconnect from the rack in order to properly pop out or flush out whatever I’m trying to do obviously I can’t do all the lines or should I do every single line if anybody can help me figure out what lines I should do that would be greatly appreciated and should I check flow first and then try to flush should I just go ahead with washing it first and then check flow after.

 

Well looks like I got a steering rack problem something may have popped her snap stopping a certain part of the rack not to work when I disconnected the hose to the Rezza for and plugged up another hose that was definitely flow so the pump is working as it should somethings wrong with the steering rack they must be clogged somewhere or a seal broken and I need something if anybody can help me with that that be great if anybody has a DIY on the steering rack that would also be great