PAS box overhauled - steering feels different

oport

oport

Member
Hello fellow Rover drivers,

i had my PAS box completely overhauled (new seals all around) by my friend, who is a professional car mechanic. The old box was leaking fluid all over the place before, we overhauled a second box and replaced it. Now the steering feels quite different than before and i am wondering if this is right. There is considerable play around the center, when turning the wheel it feels harder than before. On top of that the feeling is quite progressive with speed, when driving faster it seems that the steering is lighter. I am aware that with a new box with new seals the fluid pressure is probably totally different in the box, but it is nevertheless strange. The pump is working properly, there is no fluid loss whatsoever with perfect level now. It is not totally uncomfortable, but very different than before.
Am i chasing a ghost here or are there any points i should probably double check?

Greetings from germany
Olaf
 
I overhauled ny own PAS steering box a while ago and had play and vagueness around the centre point. The PAS box has a rack, and pinoin gears inside, and on the side of the box you will see a circular screw-in bung with a slot across the middle about 1.5" in diameter. This is screwed in to a given torque to ensure the rack is pushed into the teeth of the pinion on the steering shaft. If it is not tightened enough, when you steer there is play which feels like normal adjustment, but it cannot be adjusted out with the normal adjuster on the top of the box. If you make a tool to allow you to turn this side circular bung, a coin might do it, see if you can turn it. If you can it is too loose. Tighten it until it is firm but not overtight and try the steering again. If there is noticeable effort to steer, ease it back a bit.

Without the box out of the car it is difficult to set properly, but a bit of 'feel' and judgement should suffice.
 
Thnak you for that information. I will check this.
Another reason for the funny feeling may be air in the system.
What is the right procedure to vent the pas box? Can somebody share some best practices doing this, please?

CU Olaf
 
oport said:
Another reason for the funny feeling may be air in the system.
What is the right procedure to vent the pas box? Can somebody share some best practices doing this, please?
Click to expand...

Jack the front of the car up so the wheels are free of the ground, run the engine and gently wind the steering from lock to lock, pausing only momentarily at full lock before coming back again. Don't hold it on full lock. Half a dozen times and it should be done. There is a bleed screw on the box but I've never had the need to use it.
 
That bleeding procedure sounds easy enough even for me. Since i have driven the car for a couple of kilometers now i am sure that there is nothing seriously wrong but it is just a matter of small adjustments to make everything feel "right" to me. Thank you all for your help.

CU Olaf
 
Hello,

i have to warm up this thread because i had a little frightening moment today with my new PAS box. I noticed some hesitation when you drive very slowly and you have to turn large angles from left to right or vice versa over the middle position during the last days. You have to apply some force to achive this. Today i was leaving a parking lot in a 90 degree right hander. When i was trying to turn back into the middle, it was like suddenly the servo was completely absent and the steering locked. I had to brake hard and applied significant force to pull the wheel back to the middle position. It was not mechanically blocked, but very hard to turn back. After that everything was back to normal...
Very strange. Does anybody has any idea what to look for? I lost a little faith into the steering today, although this strange feeling only occured when driving slowly.
If you have any suugestions, please post them. Any help is appreciated.

CU Olaf
 
Hello,

just a final update on my steering woes: I had to replace the replacement PAS box with my original box. The "blocking issue" was not curable by adjustment from the outside. No idea what went wrong, but on the other hand i never drove the car where the replacement box was in before.
We overhauled the original box very carefully (only replacing the outer seals without taking the whole lot apart) and put it back in. It is now leakfree, the steering is a little bit different (as expected) but works fine. No more blocking issues, just a little pause until the servo support kicks in when driving very slowly and turning first to the left hand side and then back again on the right side. Different, but by no means a problem....

CU Olaf
 
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