Power Steering Pump - Rebuild?

[603Racing]

I had a noise on my '84 eta. It was similar to a belt squeal but a short steady chirp or squeak, RPM related. I traced it to the power steering pump. Seemed to be a combination of an older belt and a possible worn pump. I cut the belt off for now.

My question is, can the pumps be rebuilt? Do they even need to be rebuilt? I know I can get a seal kit, I've done this reseal on my '90 325i. This pump doesn't leak though. When I grab the pulley on the pump in the Eta, I can move the pulley shaft in and out about 2mm (normal?) Also, the power steering on the Eta is harder to turn than the 325i, so I am thinking it might be related to a worn out pump. Also, is there even anything I can do to fix this? I don't see any replacable bearings or parts anywhere on the interwebs.

Thanks in advance.

[Dj Buttchug]

PS pumps can be rebuilt. It would probably be in your best interest to just go to a local parts house and pick up a remanufactured one. You shouldnt have any shaft play in the pump itself.

[tinkerputzer]

I just did a reseal on a zf pump and the 2mm axial play seems normal. There isn't really much you can do besides the reseal. You can't source the internal vanes or the bushing. If the pump needs new vanes odds are the pump body is scored too in which case probably best to get another pump.

I would start with a properly tensioned new belt and see what that gets you. Loose belts seem to slip worse when the weather gets cold...

[603Racing]

Thanks for the feedback. I did check tension, and it was good. The belt was older though and would chirp short intervals on a steady rythym with the rpm. However, I found it odd that the noise would stop when turning the steering wheel. Usually it gets worse, thus my suspition of a bad pump. As stated, it doesn't leak, so I guess I'll just throw a new belt on it and go. I don't want to spend any money on a pump, so if the belt doesn't fix it I'll just run without PS.

[TobyB]

How do the pulleys look? The eta donor car had a lot of km's on it, and the ps pulley
in particular looked awful- really worn.

That can make them noisy, especially if the bottom of the belt's hitting the bottom of the pulley.

t

[603Racing]

Coming back to this. Put a new belt on two weeks ago. PS is still a little sluggish, but no noises. Seems it was just a belt. Still find it odd that the noise would stop when turning, but oh well!