Hey everyone
during the week i hoped into my car and went to drive and guess what it wouldnt steer. I would turn the wheel and the wheels would turn a little bit and there would be a lot of screeching in the engine bay. The drive belt is tensioned properly and appears fine, the power steering fluid level is about half way between minimum and maximum so dont think theres a problem there. Am not sure if its the power steering pump or the power steering assembly or something else.
If anyone has any ideas then help would be appreciated.

Ps the car is a 4cyl TR efi auto.

Hey everyone
during the week i hoped into my car and went to drive and guess what it wouldnt steer. I would turn the wheel and the wheels would turn a little bit and there would be a lot of screeching in the engine bay. The drive belt is tensioned properly and appears fine, the power steering fluid level is about half way between minimum and maximum so dont think theres a problem there. Am not sure if its the power steering pump or the power steering assembly or something else.
If anyone has any ideas then help would be appreciated.

Ps the car is a 4cyl TR efi auto.

The power steering belt may be slipping causing the screeching.

Use water not wd40. Other wise you will stuff a perfectly good belt.
Sounds like there's not enough tension on the belt.
Tighten it!. if it still screeches, then the rack or pump is stuffed.

Use water not wd40. Other wise you will stuff a perfectly good belt.
Sounds like there's not enough tension on the belt.
Tighten it!. if it still screeches, then the rack or pump is stuffed.

I'd be replacing the belt before I'd blame the pump or rack...

Belts don't screech fer no reason. Changing the belt does not garauntee the screeching will stop. Tightening the belt goes someway into eliminating the cause of the screeching.
Changing the belt is a band aid approach...

Use water not wd40. Other wise you will stuff a perfectly good belt.
Sounds like there's not enough tension on the belt.
Tighten it!. if it still screeches, then the rack or pump is stuffed.
WD40 isn't going to ruin a belt, it's non corrosive and will not perish the rubber

WD40 isn't going to ruin a belt, it's non corrosive and will not perish the rubber
Isn't WD40 used to loosen things like rusted bolts etc. So wont spraying on the belts
cause more slippage and screeching?

if belt slipping is the problem then i would have thought wd40 or water would just make it slip even more. Belt slipping was the first thought i had for the screeching and as i stated in my original post i have tensioned the belt properly. it is a tight as im willing to take it without snapping it. i tried running it a little looser and as tight as i can so that it has no play in it at all and it still screeches and only turns the wheels a little.
what if it got oil on the wheel that the belt goes over which is causing it to slip. i have no idea if this is whats happening im just trying to think of any causes for slipping that doesnt involve something being stuffed and needing replacement.
this may sounds stupid but ive heard old mechanics used to put talcom powder on belts to stop them slipping. anyone else heard this before i even think about trying it?

if belt slipping is the problem then i would have thought wd40 or water would just make it slip even more. Belt slipping was the first thought i had for the screeching and as i stated in my original post i have tensioned the belt properly. it is a tight as im willing to take it without snapping it. i tried running it a little looser and as tight as i can so that it has no play in it at all and it still screeches and only turns the wheels a little.
what if it got oil on the wheel that the belt goes over which is causing it to slip. i have no idea if this is whats happening im just trying to think of any causes for slipping that doesnt involve something being stuffed and needing replacement.
this may sounds stupid but ive heard old mechanics used to put talcom powder on belts to stop them slipping. anyone else heard this before i even think about trying it?

The belts may just have been worn. Take it off and have a look at the inside surface. It
may have become glazded over. It the belts fine then the pump may not be producing
enough power.

One thing to keep in mind. Never fully lock the steering wheel with power steering.

originally posted by TOMMO
WD40 isn't going to ruin a belt, it's non corrosive and will not perish the rubber

Pure nonsense. Any oil will stuff the belts. It's ok to do this to your own cars but you shouldn't be advising people that it's ok for theirs, especially when it involves the steering control of the car.
At least with water if you miss and get it on the other belts it won't harm them.
No disrespect to you mangna buff, but I would like to see a belt manufacturer replace a belt after you have sprayed it with oil...

The belts may just have been worn. Take it off and have a look at the inside surface. It
may have become glazded over. It the belts fine then the pump may not be producing
enough power.

One thing to keep in mind. Never fully lock the steering wheel with power steering.

Reason being? :confused:

And doesn't say it's safe for rubber??

Reason being? :confused:

It's something to do with the pump working against a nearly infinite resistance... really bad for it apparently. Just don't do it.

well some funny s**t happened yesterday. i tightened the belt a little further and drove around the block just to see and suprise suprise it stopped screeching...... before it snapped.
So now i have problem that i cant take the air/con belt off. i can see the adjuster screw on the idler pulley but no matter what i do it wont loosen. Is there some trick to taking it off does anyone know?

useless peice of crap wouldnt come off. the nut on the idler pulley just wont budge. so i just cut the air con belt off and put the new p/s and alt belt on. dont really need air con anyway right now.

Quote >> "The drive belt is tensioned properly and appears fine."
Well obviously it's not fine otherwise it wouldn't have snapped. Iv'e never seen any posts or spoken to any mechanics that have snapped belts from over tightening them. Unless yer names arnie schwarzenegger...
Anyways it's a process of elimination...

ok to get the idler pully nut off you will need an open ender think the nut is a (14 mm) (I use a 1/2 inch rachet reversable flat spanner ) I did have one idler pully setup in my shed --if i find it ill post a pic undo anti clockwise the closed part of the spanner over the idler pully nut then with a shifter- close the gap into the jaw of the open end of the spanner and use the shifter as leverage only way to get that job done

It is a 14mm and i managed to get a closed ender over the nut, it still wont move. nearly pushed the car along trying to get it to move. dunno what to try now but still, thanks for the help, much appreciated. Same to everyone with useful input.


Quote >> "The drive belt is tensioned properly and appears fine."
Well obviously it's not fine otherwise it wouldn't have snapped. Iv'e never seen any posts or spoken to any mechanics that have snapped belts from over tightening them. Unless yer names arnie schwarzenegger...
Anyways it's a process of elimination...

yes thank you for your usefull input. Note the word in BOLD.
Hence....

The belts may just have been worn. Take it off and have a look at the inside surface. It may have become glazded over.

Bad luck pseudomorphous :(
When the belt snapped did it look damadged in anyway? ie perished or like it was rubbing?


Pure nonsense. Any oil will stuff the belts. It's ok to do this to your own cars but you shouldn't be advising people that it's ok for theirs, especially when it involves the steering control of the car.
At least with water if you miss and get it on the other belts it won't harm them.
No disrespect to you mangna buff, but I would like to see a belt manufacturer replace a belt after you have sprayed it with oil...

No offence mate but WD40 isn't 'oil' it's a petroleum based solvent that will remove oils and moisture, that may be causing a belt to slip. Go ask pretty much any mechanic, and they'll say that it is acceptable to put WD40 onto a belt to stop squeeling, if other possible problems have been checked over. Most of the time the noise will be due to incorrect belt tension or a stuffed belt but another problem could be that oil has gotten onto the belt, that's where WD40 will be of use.

Im in melbourne and its about 10degC outside, not much chance of overheating. But yeh i get what your saying. But the fans will still switch on, had a bit of playing around with cooling system when relays have failed and such.
Umm the outside of the belt looked fine, which i why i thought when looking at it in the engine bay that it was fine, but the underside of the belt was a little bit worn, not drasticly, but a little.

[Quote]
No offence mate but WD40 isn't 'oil' it's a petroleum based solvent that will remove oils and moisture, that may be causing a belt to slip. Go ask pretty much any mechanic, and they'll say that it is acceptable to put WD40 onto a belt to stop squeeling, if other possible problems have been checked over. Most of the time the noise will be due to incorrect belt tension or a stuffed belt but another problem could be that oil has gotten onto the belt, that's where WD40 will be of use. [tommo][Quote]

WD40 is not a solvent, it uses a solvent to help thin the oil to help it spray out of the can.
It will not remove moisture, it merely displaces it. Only products like metho will remove moisture, because they mix with water.
Any low tech mechanic will use wd40 to stop belt squeal, coz thats the handiest thing he has. Most arn't going to be too bothered about finding the true cause of the squeal.. after all time is money. WD40 should only be used too loosen rusty bolts as it was designed to do...
If you were to spray anything else onto the noisy belt it should be belt grip or something similar, but thats still a band aid aproach.