I had the PS pump off my 02 Accord yesterday to replace the leaking pump cover seal. When I went to put everything back on and tighten the PS belt, the steering wheel bound up and squealed upon turning. I saw the PS pulley actually seizing up. Yikes! I thought I tightened the belt to the original tightness but obviously this wasn't the case. I used a 1/2 in drive ratchet to lift the pump up/down to achieve proper belt tension, as spec'd by the factory service manual. I tried three more times but the belt still squealed and seized up upon turning the wheel -- albeit less and less after each attempt. I then put an 18 in pipe on my ratchet and pulled the pump up with all my might and locked the belt down. Everything was whisper quiet again.

I went to start the car this morning and the belt still squealed and bound up when turning lock-to-lock. I re-tightened the belt as much as I could and now it's quiet again. The belt doesn't appear worn and didn't do this before. Any ideas why such force was required to tighten it down?

 

You should never turn a car with Power Steering all of the way to either lock.

 

I think at this point I would go for new belts. Could be some fluid has got onto the belt or with the slipping has just worn it.

 

I'm w/ PM on this. Old belts can get slippery and squeal under normal load.

Suggest testing the PS pump by hand turning w/ belt off. It should turn easily w/ no roughness and no wobble of pulley.

good luck

 

^ this, didn't catch at first. Is the pump locking up or is the belt just slipping so bad that the pump is hardly turning.

 

You shouldn't need to put that much tension on the PS pump. I think you have another issue. Back the tension off before you damage the pump bearing. First thing I'd do is get the front wheels off the ground and then turn the wheel slowly lock to lock to bleed the air out of the system. Pay attention to the pump and make sure it isn't seizing up during this operation. You'll likely have to do this several times to get the air out. If air is in the pump it will cavitate and quite possibly do what you describe. Weight on wheels during this exercise combined with air in the pump is what this sounds like to me. If the pump is seizing up during the bleed process, you need a new one.....and the rack is not far behind, failure wise....sean