Power steering pump adjuster rod bolts broke for the 4th time...what the hell?

VII · 07-03-2010, 02:13 PM

This is becoming very irritating. The eye bolts that screw into the dual threaded rod keep breaking on my power steering pump adjuster. This is the 4th time they have broken in about 1 1/2 years. I'm not exactly sure what the issue is but I would imagine that the pump is maybe mounted at an angle slightly causing the eye bolts to become weak? Perhaps the engine is moving around too much because of potentially bad motor mounts and allowing the eye bolts to break? I have no idea and do not see any obvious issues. Everything seems to be rougly in line and the adjuster eye bolts are not hardly extended enough to warrant the breaking. I'm thinking of using a 1/4" piece of metal to roughly the right size instead of the adjuster rod. Any ideas?

On a similar note, is there anyone out there that is willing to provide me with the right hand threaded eye bolt for cheap to free so that I can get the car on the road (and of course break it within a couple months?

ideola · ideola's Garage

I'm guessing your problem is similar to one that I experienced on my erstwhile 924S. The power steering pump itself has a bushing that goes in both the front and the back of the pump on the main bolt that suspends it from the bracket (the one that mounts to the motor). For some unknown reason, PET does not specify the front bushing, only the back one. If the front bushing is missing due to being misplaced during a previous servicing, the pump will move axially during normal operation, putting undue stress on the Heim joint.

Now to complicate matters. There is no OEM part for the front bushing. The one for the rear is about 20mm long, but is too long to be used in the front. The solution that worked for me was to purchase a second bushing and cut it in half, so that it was about 10mm. Some additional washers may be necessary to shim it perfectly so you can eliminate all slop in the pump. Once I did this, I had no more failures of the Heim joint.

Here is a related discussion:
924Board.org :: View topic - Sometimes I HATE my 924S, Part 2