Manual Steering a Power Box

[jikelly]

Manual Steering a Power Box: Why I Hate Advance Auto Parts

I got a wonderful surprise yesturday when I went to back out of my parking spot to go to work. My steering wheel was so hard to turn that I thought I wasn't going to be able to turn the front wheels enough to get out of the spot without running the car behind me.

Yep, looks like my power steering pump failed again. Has this happened to you guys before? I've only had that pump for about 3 months. I guess I got a crappy one.

 

[jikelly]

So I went to Advance Auto Parts to get a new power steering pump today since that's where I got the last one and it is still under warranty. I told the guy at the counter what I needed and he looked up my history. I explained to him my problems with the previous steering gearbox and pump that I had to return both earlier this year.

Well to make a long story short the store manager got involved and he gave me a lot of crap but they ordered a new pump for me.

Is it my fault the thing crapped out? I followed all the instructions when I installed it and it was working until the other day.

I think this might be the last thing I get from Advance Auto Parts.

 

[Route666]

When you go pick it up tell them if they don't want people to come back with things that they should sell better quality items.

Do you have wide front tyres or anything else that would put a strain on your power system?

 

[jikelly]

I do have some wide tires up front 245/45/17 but they aren't really a lot wider than the tires I had before. Is there a chance they wer to much for the pump? Is there a better power steering pump I could get?

Actually I just need to make it to next spring with the setup I've got so I can start on putting a rack and pinion kit together for my old 73 stang. That is something I have niether the time or money for right now.

 

[MustangPaul]

Keep the receipt and if it dies again, take it back to ANOTHER Advance Auto. Or, go back to the jerk store and ask for the district rep's name and number. That usually makes them play ball.

I've had pumps go out, and I replaced my 66 AC-setup pump with an Advance Auto 67 pump. (It works, but it ain't pretty.) At over $200 for a new AC pump, I can live with a non-standard one.

My problem with the PS system used to be the small lines that ran along the ram. Most parts houses have them listed as identical lines--mirrors of each other. One kept pulling out of its metal fittings until I found one parts place--NPD, I think, that had them in differing lengths. Got one that was 3/4 inch longer and hasn't pulled out since.

Long story short, my experience with Mustang PS is that A) it wasn't an excellent design when it was new and B) they alway leak.

 

[Route666]

The PS should be able to handle wide tyres. We had 225s (I think) on a cleveland equipped Fairlane 500 (Marquis) and it didn't seem to bugger the pump all of a sudden. We did have troubles with the pump though, leaks, and it eventually died once. Could be a strain issue, I dunno.

If you want to try and make it last until you get your rack, try driving it like a manual, that is, try not to turn it unless you're moving forward or backward a little.

 

[jikelly]

The mother humpers at Advance Auto parts never ordered my pump. I went in last Saturday when they didn't call to let me know if the pump came in. It wasn't there but I was told it would be there this last week.

I received no call this week again so I called them earlier today to see if the pump was there. After I waited a while, one of the managers comes on the phone and tells me that they didn't have the pump. She informed me that it was returned since it was ordered on the 15th and I never went in to pick it up.

She asked me if I ever came in to pick it up and I told her that I had gone in last Saturday to ask about the pump. She said that I must not have. I was pretty hacked but really I expected some kind of crap from them.

I really, really wanted to let her have it but it wasn't her fault the store manager was a jack ass. I just told her that they must not have ever ordered my part and that I would find a pump somewhere else so that they wouldn't have to worry about it. Man they suck and so do their parts. No more Advanced Auto Parts for the old stang.

 

[SlnLax43]

Heck, I don't even have power steering on my '67 project and since th engine is finished I don't plan on adding it. ::shrugs::

-Mike