Ok folks, is there some secret to bleeding a power steering pump?

On Drew's new to him 4.9L out of a 95 F150 - his pump literally pisses fluid out of the breather in the cap - like old faithful going off. That and it is constantly moaning and groaning. We have done the "turn the wheel lock to lock" about forty-eleven times.

I suppose it is possible the pump is bad but it ran just fine when we pulled the engine last spring.

Is there some process I am not aware of to bleed one of these pumps?

Thanks

Put the front end on jack stands, w/ engine off and cap off of the reservoir, very very slowly turn the wheel lock to lock while monitoring the fluid level, if it looks like its going to overflow slowdown, after 3-4 times of running it lock to lock, start the engine and run it lock to lock a few times, then let it just sit and idle for a 5 mins or so, recheck it after, if its still groaning badly, shut it off, it may burp again, just try to top it off immediately, once it's off, repeat the first process w/ engine off followed by engine on

You may not be getting full travel of the piston (and ability to push the air out) with the drag link connected. Disconnect the link and cycle it lock to lock.

Great advice both both of you. I will get after it when drew gets home... Assuming he gets home real soon.

So last night we bled and bled and bled... Turning lock to lock, left then right, left then right.... On occasion cranking the engine with the coil disconnected (something I read somewhere) and for nearly an hour - she kept on burping bubbles. Burping and burping. Adding more PS Fluid then burp and bleed some more. Over and over and over....

Finally we decided it had to be enough even though we still got the occasional bubble... (Had to be good enough, we were out of PS fluid again) Bubble came mostly when cranking hard right but not nearly as large or as often as before so while the front end was still in the air and drag link still disconnected we started her up. Full lock left, feels good, full lock right.... Feels - well it feels a lot better.... But the pump still moans and groans. So we shut it down and the pump starts pissing out the breather hole again... I mean pissing like a college freshman at his first keg party (it should be noted that this is much better - before she would piss so much that before you knew it, the whole pump cap would pop off).

Yesterday we went through 4 pints of PS fluid, at least 1.5 of those ended up on the floor of the garage. I am going to pick more up on my way home tonight and we shall repeat the process.

That is of course unless someone has another process. Drew keeps telling me that he read somewhere about a process to bleed the 4X4X2 box that we just installed. Does anyone know of such a process? Of course, now Drew can not find the article he read online anywhere.

Other than the PS issues described above, the new engine transplant is a complete success thus far. Drew has driven it daily all week, put his second tank of gas in it last night. (the first one was not a complete fill up - just in case we needed to drop the tank for some reason)

I have had good luck with manually turning the front wheels lock to lock. Not using the steering wheel but actually grabbing the wheel and tire and turning it lock to lock about 10 times (obviously with front end up in the air and the engine off). Stay slow with turning it. Then I fire the engine up and do some fairly quick back and forths not coming close to hitting the lock and shut it off for a couple minutes. Then finally I'll start it up crank it lock to lock a couple of times then hold it against the left lock and shut the engine off quickly. I'll continue to hold it there for a few seconds after the engine is off. It will fight to pull itself off of lock when the engine is off but hold it there as much as possible for about 10 seconds. Release and let it sit for a few minutes. Seems to work every time for me.

I really struggled getting my PS bled after going h-boost. I tried back & forth, on & off, worked ok but pump still groaned. We had a vacuum brake bleeder in the shop. It had fittings to attach to a PS pump, pulled a vac from the top of the PS pump. It worked very easily. I know most people don't have a vac bleeder, but if you can get your hands on one it worked quickly.