DejaVue, another on the Volvo forum send me your post/thread from hear in response to me having a similar issue-----burning out pumps due to leaking rack and not monitoring fluid levels well. I too am interested in this solution of looping the pump and reservoir and leaving the rack out of it. Doubt you will get a notification from this 4 years later but if you do did you do this and has it worked out and any suggestions on me doing that same thing myself ??Trying to figure out how to separate the power steering pump (fluid) from the steering rack but keep the pump pulley lubricated for the serpentine belt.
The intent of this is for the mid-2000s years Volvo 2.5T engine, but it's applicable to most engines.
People remove, bypass, delete the power steering on their cars for various reasons. It's easy to do on an engine that has a separate pulley belt for each accessory. And easy to do on serpentine-belt vehicles that can remove the pump entirely and use a shorter serpentine belt. And on vehicles with aftermarket support to remove the pump and replace with just an aftermarket pulley to take the pump's place.
But what to do on other vehicles? If power steering pumps put out a high psi on the outlet line, is it ok to just remove the line and screw a plug into the pump to seal it off? (and keep the feed line from the power steering fluid reservoir intact to keep the pump lubricated.) The high pressure from the now-plugged outlet line shouldn't damage the pump internals, should it?
Does the pump even output much pressure when the wheels aren't being turned? If not, then plugging the output hole would just keep it in low-load mode all the time.
I've also heard of people taking pumps apart and removing the vanes or similar from the internals, so the pulley still spins, but the fluid inside the pump isn't being pumped at all. I'd rather just screw a plug in where the output line was though, if the high pressure won't hurt it.
How's the feel without power assist?Funny you posting and checking in here, you havent found the Volvo Forums.
Well i did what what discussed and am pretty hopeful I'm going to be good now. Bought a used pump that had been cut off and with a brass joiner i joined with screw clamps a hose section from a washing machine water line ( no braided high pressure hose)----no leaks at the joint and im hopeful this issue is over. I got a year off the first pump replacement after a $500 tow bill breaking down in Alabama on way to Atl. The second replacement pump i planned on filling the reservoir to lube the pump every 100) miles and the pump blew up after about 500 miles within the month ( another 200 tow---i never break down closer to home)
My leak at the rack must have been worse than yours, I had tries some Castrol stop leak so-claimed and it did nothing. Still have the output line there is i ever want to hook it back up and see if it can deal with the leak. Been driving this without power steering for some time and it hasnt been bad at all, only when parking is it difficult. You got lucky with a miracle, i need one too, it threw a p420 catalytic converter code today--------only got about 150M on it but stating to have too many issues though happily not of engine or tranny, knock on wood.