Why do you think these pumps are bad? The part that usually wears is really
the housing, (side play) and fixing this take machine work. They also
usually last almost forever. I have only replaced two of these and they were
used on a number of VW and Audi products. Both died from being run dry.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
John Rodgers
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 3:13 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Power Steering Pumps - Again!

  Since I now have three Vanagons to maintian, and all three have bad
pumps, I am facing a $900 bill for PS pump replacement, so needless to
say, I have been studying the pump problem intently. Bentley has some
really good illustrations of the construction of these pumps, and I see
absolutely no reason one cannot rebuild them in one's own garage. The
problem is the availability of parts.

These pumps are simple. A few gaskets and seals, a spring loaded
pressure relief valve, a stator, a rotor, and some vanes to go in the
rotor.

The parts that wear are the vanes - which wear against the stator, and
the rotor, where the vanes wear in their respective slots on the rotor.
Those three parts - stator, rotor, vanes - are really easy to replace.
So, what is the deal with getting those parts. All of our regular list
vendors carry the seal kit, ie, gaskets, o-rings, etc, but I have yet to
see one carry the stator, rotor, and vanes. So why not? As common as
these parts are on Vanagons, surely they are available somewhere to the
public at large. Why would/should these parts be the exclusive purvue of
automotive component/appliance re-builders.

I hope to turn this situation around, and I'm on the trail. Any input
anyone has would be appreciated. I would like to add this as a  success
story to the archives.

Homey's have rebuilt/repaired AFM's, ECU's, Auto Trannies, PS racks, to
name a few - all in their home garages. So why not PS pumps??

Thanks for any help.

Thanks for putting up with a semi-rant!

John

--
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com