Amount Of Pas Fluid?

[cybernck 403 1 Cars]

Stripping a 1.9 8v PAS system got me thinking the other day... If you look at it,

the pump sits as far from the rack as possible, the fluid tank is again remote

from both the pump and rack, sitting behind the driver's (or your passenger's)

headlight and then there's of course the "cooler" loop pipe under the floor.

 

On the other hand, on my Mi32, PAS pump sits just above the rack, fluid tank

is almost right next to it and there's no cooler pipe. If you compare it with

the 8v setup, there's considerably lower amount of fluid in the system!

 

Now, although I can't see any reasoning for it, unless the tank (which is,

may I add, not an OE one, but off an R5 or something like that) is full up

to the brim, I have problems with steering - PAS system sort of shuts off

and I get horrible grinding noise. If I shut down the engine and restart,

it usually sorts it out. The tank sits higher than the pump of course.

 

Perhaps it's something to do with the pump belt? Or the pump itself?

[petert 601]

Less fluid means hotter fluid. Maybe you're boiling it? The long pipes under the car are there to cool the fluid. You need a system which has around 1.5L of fluid capacity, minimum.

[cybernck 403 1 Cars]

No. When the PAS system overheats, it just goes heavy - I've had that happen during

long sessions of autoslalom trainings.

 

What happens here is that the pump makes a horrible grinding noise and it also sounds

as if the belt is slipping if you try to turn the steering wheel - which is as heavy

as with the engine not running. Upon restarting, it usually cures itself .