It doesn't do it all of the time so dropping the belt may not tell me it is the pump or not. If I just put a short belt on to bypass the pump do you think it would hurt the rack to drive it like that for a day or so the see if it keeps it from happening?
Running without PS could tear up the plastic coupler it has in the steering if tilt is present. Prolly not good for the rack either. If you want to try something crazy, hook you IAB to another battery, not hooked to your car and run it at idle. This is a test I was going to do on mine.
I was thinking voltage drop to the pump causing the prob at idle only sometimes. Sure would be nice to eliminate some things.
it could do damage but it might not also pep do it at the track all the time but not for as long as you are talking about. i had (about a month ago) a brand new 2002 torch red gt (ford took it back from me)power everything 5-speed and when the windows were maxed out up or down it would drop a hundred rpm's or so. My moms v-6 does the same (auto)and also when the p/s is maxed to the right or left if it is driveing you that crazy i would get a shorter belt to by-pass the p/s and drive a day with it like that cause if it whines like u say chances are it is going and the rebuilds are cheap too.
What if I just bypassed it and didn't drive it just let it set and idle a while that shouldn't hurt anything?also few post up I asked if my small leak at the front of my intake could cause this. I realize that makes no sense now if it were the intake it would have to be a leak between the upper and the lower or where the runners meet the heads. The front and the back of the intake leaking wouldn't effet vacuum would they?
yes they would you should have that checked out too but i dont know cause vacum leaks kill power and you said it runs fine even breaks loose. So if any not much get it checked to be sure but no running it for 2 or 3 mins without a belt wont hurt but no longer until it cools each time due to the fact it has no fan no water pump nuffin. but if it is the p/s or alt it is a sure shot way to tell. Let us know
Ok still trying to solve this problem. Here is what I discovered in the last few days. Monday was my day off and I had alot of running around to do. It was in the low to mid 20's outside all day and the car ran great. Yesterday it was 16 degrees out when I left for work again it ran fine. Today it is back in the upper 30's low 40's and it idles like crap again ! It got up in the 60's last week and it idled ok then as well. (man the weather changes alot in the south) Does this make any sense to anyone? Anything you guys can think of that would be that tempature sensitive?