I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: Power steering issues
My car has developed a loud and annoying whine from the power steering pump. I had it up on jack stands and removed all the air from the system but it didn’t fix the issue. It looks like there is a leak from the front of the pump itself.
I’m about to take it down to the west country so I don’t have time to swap the pump out. I’m a bit concerned about the PAS failing mid-corner and causing me to crash it.
Question is, can I just remove the power steering belt temporarily?
I understand that I won’t have PAS for a bit, just want to check that its OK to drive the car with the belt removed. I assume the whine will also go away?
In case anyone is wondering the same, I removed belt and nothing bad happened besides disabling the power steering.
Driving without power steering is interesting, I actually quite like it. It’s a real arm workout… particularly at low speed when parking for example. Personally I feel much more connected to the car without power steering, the whole car feels a lot tighter. You have to really hold onto the wheel around corners at speed but it feels quite a lot more precise.
I think everyone should try it! Just to experience what life was like before power steering.
Easy to find belt removal vids on YouTube, easy job.
Oh and yes the whine went away, can’t whine if it doesn’t exist!
I’m guessing I’m a good many years older than you and I grew up with cars which didn’t have power steering. The point you’re missing is that before power steering was common, cars were designed to be easily drivable without it. Ok, probably more turns lock to lock and things improved with rack and pinion steering, but they were nowhere near as hard to steer as a car with the power steering disabled. I suspect you’ve never driven something like an original mini as an example.
JS
Agreed, and even now they feel better to drive than many current cars, eg no dead spot wander when pointing ahead. A few years ago I helped someone collect a car, an old Astra like mine, also no power steering, but in excellent good nick, nicely sorted. It was a joy to drive it back up the M40 compared to the hire cars and disappointing new car test drives we had been doing to find a replacement for the old Vextra.
On ER70 Dunlop radials (XJ6 tyres) my old Series IV Humber hawk (30cwt) handled like a mini; a revelation because it had been like a tank on the mismatched cross-plys it came with.
If you disconnect the power steering pump and want to use the car without, I think you may need to drain the steering fluid or when turning the steering it will be against the fluid pressure and very hsrd to turn.
I’m not sure with MX5 power steering but if it’s reallly tricky turning the steering I would try draining it and try again.
I had to drain on an old Ford steering system to be able to use it.
I’ve owned a few cars with out power steering, my first car was a daytona yellow mk1 escort.
Driving along at normal speeds was ok, but I don’t miss fighting it when parking. I don’t think I’d fancy driving a modern heavy car, with its wide tyres without power steering.
My’77 1.6 Capri had been fitted with a 3.0 rack to make the steering sharper, but without fitting a pump!!! Then swapped the big wheel for a 13 inch rally style one from Charlie Browns…
That was a workout but I was younger. Fabulous on the move though
Is the Mx5 P.A.S. ratio not a quicker ratio?
That won’t help much.
I’m no noodle arms by any means but no way could I spend an urban day steering our 205’d Sport around without PAS.
I actually think it could be dangerous, and furthermore the car will have been “modified” as far as the insurance brokers may be concerned.
In short, think it over.
Better a live coward than a dead hero.
Driving a car fitted with power steering that isn’t working is nothing like driving a car that wasn’t made with power steering. In most cases the steering was still relatively light and precise with plenty of feedback.
The ability to still be able to steer should the power steering fail is mandated by vehicle regulations. But this is intended for emergency use only. It is not safe to continue to drive a vehicle in this state. You will be hard pressed to take emergency avoiding action should the need arise. You are putting yourself and others in danger.
Pay a visit to The great British Car Journey where you can drive an old car and just see the difference.
In case anyone is interested in an update, I ran no PAS for a few months and enjoyed it. Today I swapped the pump and belt out over a couple of hours. Main motivator for me were safety reasons described by others in this thread. The pump was cheap on eBay!
