[OK-944]

PS pump...makes sense! (but I did not think to turn the wheel back and forth at startup - darn!)

Also, the PS pump (which I'd resealed) made a horrible noise during the first startup after I'd rebuilt the engine...and to my horror I discovered that I'd way underfilled its reservoir prior to starting. I'd not thought of the PS pump until I turned the wheel, at which point it became especially noisy. But unfortunately, I'd allowed it to run this way for about twenty minutes before actually turning the wheel.

While the horrible (grinding/grating/buzzing) noise went away after I topped up the reservoir, I've always wondered if I'd somehow compromised the PS pump in some way during that first startup - like those little flat metal "vanes" which move in their slots within the "turbine" of the pump are now not quite "right." Probably should take the pump back apart and check at some point.

I guess the larger issue might also involve bits of metal from those vanes floating around inside my PS rack - which I'd also rebuilt.

At any rate...its warmed up a bit today, to 10F and should go up to around 30F - so I'm not sure if I'll be able to diagnose until it cools off again. In the meantime, I'm actually quite hopeful that this is indeed a power steering (pump) issue and not something that involves the engine itself.