punt
Sorry to say, after trying to get the compressor back in for about an hour, I punted: went out and bought AC by-pass pulley. This went on in ten minutes.
Now I have a leak between the nut and the hose on the high pressure hose from the PS pump to the rack. From what I read this is remedied by replacing the whole hose. I will spot weld that mother in place before I try getting the hose out. Some special claw wrench, getting the car high enough in the air, removing all the different parts... I just need the car to run for the next 2 years (95 continental built in 94).
Some tips for some one replacing the power steering pump in a 95-02 (is that the correct end year?)
1) removing the serpentine belt... work your breaker bar into the hole. After you get the belt off, leave the wrench in the hole. I took mine out and had to use a pry bar to get the tensioner up high enough to get the wrench back in. Leave the wrench in the tensioner the whole time.
2) drain the radiator... there is a coupling on the bottom that is held in place by 2 bolts. Remove this and I think the AC Compressor will literally drop out. Two hoses are connected here and they will now move out of the way. Yhis is easily found because it is the radiator coupling that is in the way of removing the compressor.
3) loosen the radiator supports... I loosened mine to get some play and some space to get the compressor out, but I couldn't get it back in. AC wasn't working so I installed the by pass pulley to get the 4-55+1 air working (4 windows, 55 mph, 1 sunroof). I remove the bolts entirely and held the radiator in place with a jack.
4) unhook the ps reservoir... adds space to get serpentine belt off and adds hose length when trying to take off and put on the new pump.
5) rent pulley tools... Advance Auto rented and showed me how to use the tools to pull the power steering pulley and put it on the new pump. Be sure to examine how deep the pulley needs to go before pulling.
6) Hidden PS bolts... take your time and these can be reached by a socket, extension and ratchet. I need some one from the top to pull the hose to get the bolts lined up when putting it back in.
7) latex gloves... there was so many years of leaking ps fluid and gunk everywhere that this helped during the hand washing cycle.
Hope this helps the next person. This is doable but plan on 4- 8 hrs.
Now who has a method of fixing the high pressure leak without replacing the hose?
