New pump installed at beginning of summer. Worked great till it froze tonight while I was on a full right turn out of a street parking.
I was barely moving as it was very tight to get out of there and I could ear the noise the pump normally makes in such situation.
Then all the sudden it froze with loud noise of the strap rubbing against the engine pully. Water pump was not moving neither.
Then I loosened the PS pully and I could move fan/water pump freely by hand, PS was frozen.
I moved the car out of the street on loose strap/manual steering to my son’s driveway about 200 feet away from there.
Red PS fluid lost… may be half of a quart. Still show in spec on the stick in the reservoir.
Not sure yet where the leak was but brief exam suggests it could have exited from the return hose under the reservoir… yet to be confirmed tomorrow.
After I moved the car, I tried again to rotate the PS by hand and this time it was moving freely???
Any body went through something similar and/or wish to share tboughts?
Thanks in advance.
It could be something in the control valve went out and hydraulic locked the system.
Perhaps the return line got pinched causing the pump to lock?
Thank you guys, someone (other forum) suggested a stuck bypass valve under high pressure, makes a lot of sense to me. Here is my answer:
https://www.mercurycougar.net/forums/showthread.php?120105-Power-steering-pum-froze-tonight
Update on this, I rebuilt control valve last winter with kit obtained from CJ Pony Parts + new spool, since I was there anyway.
Not that difficult to do after watching their video on YouTube, just needed patience and some precision.
First ride today… Wow… Should have done that long ago! Problem solved + So much better handling.