PS fluid and new bushings, seals
 

Thanks for all your info! I inspected the PS pump and noticed that the lower bushings are in bad shape, cracked and softened, deeply carved in. Especially the front one. That`s probably the reason that the belt is not aligned perfectly. The pump `went downwards` a little, tilting the assembly a bit, putting some extra pressure also on the upper bushing that came out of the hole towards the front of car 3-4mm. The front seal of the pump does leak in the middle area so I will have to get to Autozone asap and get the parts you suggested and do the rebuild. For now as an SOS solution I used the `turkey fluid extractor` :) and took old fluid out, replaced it with the proper atf. System does not have air in it, no bubbles visible but my steering is not Volvo-like so that tells me what`s going on. :) Drops on the ground, nothing major but I want this fixed and focus on other treats for the car. Oh btw I did fix the ignition switch as well, well that`s a long story but now it is back and working.

Fresh ATF for power steering pump
 

I took the 99cents turkey baster and got rid of the majority of fluid of the ps pump.
Filled it up with fresh DexronIII (Peak) ATF and watched for air bubbles after startup. I did not see any air coming out of the system but the steering is still not Volvo-like. After a few days the new ATF did stop 90% of the leak that was caused, I think, by the front seal of pump). I loosened all the ps mounting bushings too and moved the pump around, many times... and tightened them back. The lower bushings are worn, so I will have to replace those. After tightening the belt a bit and changing the position of the bushings (turning them slightly) did help some. I also put a foam-type thick ring on the pump`s `neck`, just under the cap to avoid effects&results of vibration and get some of that ATF held back if a possible leak does happen in the future. Now the belt is not that much misaligned any more but I`ll have to get the new ps mount bushings and also, I will order the kit and reseal the pump hopefully soon. When having this setup removed already, probably I should get a new belt too although it is not (yet) eaten on the edges. What`s the best/suggested/preferred type? Thanks!
Ps. I will flush the ps fluid ( =ATF) again tomorrow, that might help some.

PS seal kit
 

Thanks!
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...ier=21419_0_0_
I`ll visit Autozone tomorrow to buy ball joints and various bushings for a friend`s es300. AutoZone's parts search is NOT so dieselVolvo friendly. Would this seal-kit work on the d24t Saginaw pump system??

PS
 

A, Time flies! Still having the old seals yet, since they pretty much stopped leaking after I changed the fluid twice. Recently I just replaced the PS bushings again, the belt got aligned, etc. I`d like to order a new, proper belt too (it ran misaligned for some time). Pls send me a link.

B, Staring at the setup, I was just wondering, what happens when/IF the PS belt breaks. Of course you`ll notice/hear/feel that immediately; but is double-trouble possible there? The radiator hose is soo freaking close...it`s near the danger zone. Ideas&stories wanted.

One day my 6.2 Suburban sounded a little labored, then once I got to the top of the mountain and headed down the other side, it overcooled. That was odd, but I went to work and did my job. After work, I think 'I ought to take a peek'.
A little something shiny caught my eye, and there was the alternator belt completely tied in a big knot around the fan clutch:confused:
It took a long time to cut the belt out of the fan, but otherwise nothing was hurt. something to be said for vehicles that don't need much electronics.

6y later the power steering bushings needed replaced again
 

I had time to do these 3 bushings again.

This time they aren`t the URO brand but made by REIN (sent by fcpeuro).

I didn`t see any crack on the bracket which is great news.
I took my time to clean the entire area. The unit leaks a little but it all adds up over time, right? I should `rebuild` it at some point (needs new internal seal).

The most annoying things always been that I could not get the freaking belt run completely straight and flush with the other pulley.
It always has been an issue on this car.

I figured a solution that worked. I think there was some warpage or substantial wear in the lower eyelets of the bracket.
The belt always ran misaligned, new belt and new bushings never fixed it either.

Today I grabbed a file and filed away at the upper hole, made it more straight and tried to figure the best and most efficient angle for a proper alignment of the belt.
At the upper hole I filed the most at the side of the hole which is closer to the engine (=passenger side of the bracket, right right of the car but left as you face cylinder 1). At this upper hole I filed the pass side much more than the driver side. I filed more at the top of the hole and a little at the bottom portion of the hole. I tried creating an angle and a slight tilt. Thinking about the force too that the tightened belt creates on that weak looking arm that holds the reservoir away from the engine.

Then I filed the bottom eyelet/hole and created the same angles by filing most at the top portion and concentrated on the left side of the hole which is the side closer to the engine (passenger side of the car)

By the time these two holes all seemed very much aligned and okay, I reinstalled the reservoir using the 3 new bushings, new washers where needed. I noticed that there are some sides where a washer would limit protrusion and deformation of a wearing bushing in case it wore too much the washer would `hold it in`and wouldnt let it completely deform and climb out of its own shape. I added some.

The project turned out to be really successful and I saw the aligned belt immediately after finishing the assembly.

All in all I probably had to file away 3mm at the very left of the upper hole , 2mm at the right side of same hole and about half of that at the bottom hole. I always adjusted the filing to the driver sides of the holes too but didnt file away much at all at the driver sides.
In my case the upper hole needed the most material taken away and it all became so great. It sits so nice and never been that aligned and holding strong and nearly zero vibration which wasnt the case even with the recent new bushings earlier. Grabbing the reservoir by the top and trying to force it out of the way but I could not. Super stubborn now, it improved by a lot. the front faces of those 3 holes were definitely not flush with each other. And all of that was visible.

What came out:
The old bushings that I removed were not completely toast but
the upper one was super hard and really deformed, took the shape of the wrong angle of the front face of the upper hole of the bracket.
The bottom two bushings were in bad shape too but not hardened rather they became too soft, prob worn away by fluid, mist of oil and atf that seeped out of the reservoir as fluid leak through several years.
The front bottom bushing was prob in the worst shape. The rear lower bushing was trying to hold but disintegrated and started to split around the larger edge. Created mostly by the pull caused by unnecessary misalignment.

By filing at the bracket I created a really nice angle that lets the belt stay aligned even if you overtightened the belt so much that it pulls super hard against the slotted adjusting bracket/arm (just a test).

This small touch up will definitely help it hold against the crazy vibration and heat we have under the hood.

Basically what I did was achieving a microscopic lol clockwise vertical `twist` in the reservoir vs the old position on the ps bracket... And a few degrees tilt at its top (towards the rear of the car) and some tilt at the bottom eyelet hole too, all of these obviously in synchro and level with each other. The changes are so minimal that it wont affect anything, instead it got so much better indeed, I wish i did this many years ago!

Defective power steering bracket
 

Tom Bryant in Maine is the guy most English go to as the D24T guru.
thosbryant@gmail.com / https://thosbryant.wordpress.com/ I'm new to the engine and was referred by an English guy. Tom will explain to you that the power steering bracket is poorly designed and most will fail eventually. He designed a new bracket and had it cast in aluminum and machined. He made 20 of them and spread the set up cost across those 20. Not cheap, but a permanent fix. He also rebuilds the cruise control spool so it is not subject to adverse vibration. Many many fixes on his blog. He replied to my newbie questions with 3 LONG emails, explaining concisely the issues causes, and fixes. For those who haven't read his blog, he's a great resource. He's an old fart like me. Got to pick the brains of these boomers so the info isnt lost to time....especially since the BOOMER DOOMER virus is stalking us old guys.
Best of luck!

RESEALED SAGINAW PS pump with a $14 Gates kit which is found also for $7
 

[QUOTE=v8volvo;6236]
The fluid leak is probably a separate issue, very often on these old power steering pumps the main O-ring that seals the pump housing to the reservoir gets tired and starts to leak after a while. Fortunately it is quite easy to get parts to fix it since the pump is made by GM (Saginaw) and is shared with many GM vehicles from the '70s and '80s, hence extremely common.... CarQuest sells a pump rebuild kit for under $20 that is applicable for the D24 power steering pump, part # 35039, and replacing the seals is relatively easy especially if you already are going to have the pump removed to replace the mount bushings.
The kit comes with pump shaft bushings, etc as well but the pumps themselves seem to never have any issues at all, only the leaky seals so I have never used the bushings.[/QUOTE


Thanks for the info on the part number.
I found it as GATES 350390 and finally got it done because the reservoir usually looks `shiny and just a little wet` on the bottom area. A `leak` usually happens only in the Winters so I decided to do it in time. The kit has 12 or 13 parts in it, bushing and seals/o-rings etc as you mentioned.
I didn`t take the entire pump apart fully, I decided to leave it alone and only used up a couple of seals from the package, I think I used up only 5-6 rubber seals total.
The largest, main o-ring was the cause, I think. All orings were also hardened and kind of square-shaped or `flattened out`. The largest oring broke into 3 pieces when I inspected it... it was time for this reseal to get done.
Of course the rusty looking parts got cleaned up and painted, nothing should go back on the engine looking crap or oily.

I should`ve added a new PS belt too, but I was lazy to deal with the alternator belt (I use the tightening method you shared here to install&tighten it properly to avoid slipping). I didn`t run the engine while the PS system was taken apart and I did fill the reservoir back up right after finishing the job.

But now I still can`t get the air out and something is holding it from being bled out. :)
Maybe you have a trick or something? Am I missing the point here?

I followed this advice I found online, with no success. The fluid is topped off (warm engine) to the proper level. The annoying part is that when I did the reseal I haven`t really ran the car at all in the first place to get air in the system.

https://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Ste...edingProcedure
I did what it suggests and had it done 2-3 times at least, for both sides, twice.
Then with the engine running. Then again, without much change at all. The fluid level rose a little bit when I did that first.
Maybe I should get the car on jacks to have it done easier.


I haven`t removed any components such as tie rod ends etc and IDK why it suggests doing that for the bleeding.
All I did was removing the reservoir for the reseal.
yes, it may have introduced air thru the two hoses but does it have to be so hard to get it out? Also IDK what type of rack this d24t has.

Ideas welcome and thank you.

( Is that magnet supposed to just simply be randomly floating around in there? )

Did you try this? (from your link):

"Note: If the system is filled too quickly, the fluid can be prone to retaining air. Once this occurs, it can take one to two days of normal driving before the air is released from the system."

If it was just floating around in the fluid I'd say it has lost its magnetic charge. Throw it out and add some fresh ones. I use ones from my old Sonicare toothbrush heads. Extremely strong. Place them where they will have a good chance to entrap ferrous bits drifting by.

two days driving would take me to Key West! nice :))))) but driving a fish-tank without AC?!!!!! (=a 745)

but I know what they mean. :)

well, I`ll have no chance but to jack it up and help it out by a new test: redo it all by the same advice then do it again with engine running ... THEN wait and drive locally ``for two days``.

The magnet I found is still very sticky so I reused it but I was surprised that it wasn`t glued to any surface such as it is for example in the m46 bottom overdrive pan.
I thought of adding another, round, extremely strong magnet, one of those hematite looking halfmoon ones that one cant just grab off a fridge without prying.
I consider adding a filter into the line to see what it catches, I read an article that it works way better than flushing the system through. An inline filter caught a huge amount of stuff despite a flush being done earlier, for the guy who wrote that article about the small filter. He was surprised to see as much crap caught because he flushed twice. The old rack might appreciate this filter, IDK even if just temporarily for circa few hundred miles.