Power steering pressure switch

myfirstls

Active LVC Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
Nice sunny Hawaii
Aloha guys. It's been a while since my last post, which is good thing. No news is good news. But not any more.

My 2004 LS (V8) recently started to leak power steering fluid and because of this forum, I trace it to the pressure switch. Leak is slow enough that I can just top it off with fluid every week or so. But I just went through my first bottle and my driveway is getting dirty, very dirty so decided to repair the leak. I already have the switch from Rockauto (non-Ford) and tried to replace it today, but hit a snag. Reason for this post.

Just how the heck do you take the switch out? I know how physically, but switch just won't budge. I got the open end to the neck of the switch, but it just won't turn. I even took the compressor off (no, I didn't open the system. Just move the compressor), took the intake tube off (I have K&N intake) and power steering fluid reservoir out to give room to get some leverage but no can do!

Anybody have any experience or tip regarding how to take it off? I'm about to go to AC specialist to have my AC evacuated so I can take off the compressor completely off so I have more room to tackle this. I know I should've take some pictures, but with all fluid, my hands were cover with pink fluid...............
 
I think there have been those who have said that they have done it, but Ford's intent was that the hose and switch would be replaced as an assembly. Further confusing things, some had the switch on the pump instead of the hose. Those were intended to be replaceable.
 
Thanks Joe. Guess my options are pretty limited. I either take the power steering hose off to get to the switch, which I'm leaning towards to, or go to AC shop and have the system evacuated, take the compressor off and attack from there (but whether the switch will turn, that's another story).

Engineer who design these cars needs a good spanking for making things like this! (yes, I know. These are Lincoln. But if the car break, dealer mechanics need to work on it too! )
 
Easier and cheaper to take the power steering hose off, than to discharge the AC system.
 
Thanks again, Joe. Yeah, that's what I figured. I need to evacuate the system, then charge it again so yeah, would come out cheaper.

Now, I was looking at diagram and noticed I need to buy couple things, mainly O-ring. I found two that goes on the rack side of the hose, but I can't find the part # for TEFLON SEAL - 3E764, which goes on the pump side of the hose/fitting. Anybody have a number for this? I tried both Tasca and Ford Parts Giant but can't seem to find the part.
 
Teflon seals are re-usable if they aren't damaged. They are *not* o-rings. It's also OK for the hose to be able to swivel or move after the fitting is tightened.

If you do need to replace the seal, any auto parts store has a small box of teflon seals in the Help! section. Ford uses the same seals on many, many, many vehicles.
Installing them is rather different. You have to very carefully stretch them onto the fitting, then scrunch them back down to size. There are specialty tools to do this, but usually some hot water to soften the teflon, a usefully sized cone of some sort, and your fingers are good enough.
 
Thanks oddball. Yes, I kinda figure you can reuse it but won't hurt to have one just in case you rip it or damage it and with my luck, I'll probably damage it. However, I didn't know about that you can get the seal from the Help! section in the auto store. Yeah, I used their parts couple time in the past, so I know what you referring to.

And yes, I rebuild trans as well (on lots of GMs, never did Ford, yet) so I know you have to fit them carefully. Stretching them is one story, shrinking them is another. Depending on size of the seal, I usually use cardboard and some tape, been most of them are on shaft.

Anyway, bought some o-rings from Tasca. Waiting on them to arrive so I can start taking off the hoses. I'll try take some pictures while I'm under the car in case anybody need to tackle this.
 
Don't reuse the teflon seals. They will get chewed up and leak.

There should be no "stretching" or "scrunching". Get some hot tap water, (hot as you can get it), and put the seal in it for a few minutes.

Then... start by putting one side of the seal on the threads of the hose fitting... and use a small hook tool to walk the seal around the threads... until it gets past them to the seat is on the fitting. Don't roll or twist the seal while doing tjis

Let the seal cool for a few minutes... and it will shrink back down to size.

Pic is a simulation... using a bolt in place of the fitting.
IMG_20210607_165006808.jpg
 
Thanks for the info. But I haven't taken off the hoses yet, so I have no idea what condition the seal is. I usually re-use the Teflon seals if it's not too bad, but I will replace them if they're damaged or ripped. Besides, I have no idea what I need to buy size wise, so I'll wait until the o-rings comes in, then start taking off the hoses. After I get my hands on that Teflon seal, I'll decide if I reuse them or get a replacement. If anything, I'll probably get one anyway. Not too crazy about taking the hoses off again, even at the fitting, to replace the seal.
 
So! It's been almost a week and I still haven't heard from Tasca, other than one of the parts I order is on back-order. Placed an order on 6/5, got a email stating back-order on 6/8 and today is 6/12. All I know is they haven't ship the item yet. And no, I don't know which one is on back-order because they haven't told me.

So guys, I haven't forgot about taking pictures. I just don't have the parts yet (it's bunch of o-rings for the hoses. I just don't understand what's the hold up).
 
, I haven't forgot about taking pictures. I just don't have the parts yet (it's bunch of o-rings for the hoses. I just don't understand what's the hold up).

The o-rings are such a small and insignificant part... that they probably aren't kept in stock... so there will be a delay when ordering direct from Ford.
 
OK. It's almost two weeks since I ordered the parts. Two weeks! Anyway, can't wait any longer and I have this feeling that they're waiting for me to cancel my order. I'll just keep that order until they message me in some way.

In the mean time, I decided to tackle this problem by using my stock/collection of o-rings.I work on Japanese motorcycle as well, so I have stock of o-rings, from small to big. They are also metric, so I'm hoping I can find at least something close. I have sets of black, green, red and white (Teflon rings/seals) so hopefully, I have what I need. No, I'm not worried about the diameter. I'm worried about the thickness of the rings.
 
I just don't understand what's the hold up).

Call customer service. From Google. Keep in mind this is Eastern time.

1-800-598-1484

If you still have questions, please call one of our Customer Support Specialists at 1-800-598-1484 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
 
OK guys. This is not the way to go, but I'm old and anything to make the job easier, I will. So I'm just showing how I did it. You may have smaller hand, thinner arm or just been young and may not have to go through all this. I just hope that these pictures and story help in some way.

What I decided to do was to take the power steering hoses off to aid me in changing the power steering pressure sensor. I did try many way to take this switch off while on the car, but it just doesn't have enough space to either to put a wrench on it or to turn the wrench. Maybe my hand was too big (which I doubt). So my initial plan was to take the hose off and change the switch. Anyway, here we go.

First, remove the electrical connector at the pressure switch. Put some kind of pan under the rack where power steering hose connect. There's one bolt holding two hoses. This bolt is 10mm and it's not really tight. When you get the bolt out, take only the top hose, which should be your pressure hose. It has a plate to hold the lower hose, which is your return. Don't touch the lower return hose. Just leave it in the rack. You really don't need to take this hose out. Just the top, pressure hose. This what pressure hose end look like. Notice the retainer.
51262037315_d11cadd87c_k.jpg


By mistake, I took off the lower return side. Don't take this out. Otherwise, you need to replace the o-ring. One less item that you need to worry and one less step. This is the return side.
51261737094_3c6c26f5da_k.jpg


It's very hard to make out, but behind that plastic connector, there's a metal bracket holding the pressure hose. You do not need to disconnect this connector, but need wobble-head to remove the bolt, which is 13mm and slide the bracket out from the stud.
51261191798_aeed2dc142_k.jpg


Again, it's very hard to make out, but at the top of picture, there's a metal tube with lots of black gunk on it (above the 90 degree bent metal tube). This is the pump side of the pressure hose and the fitting is 18mm. At this point, it did not look like I can get the wrench on the hose fitting, so decided to take the 1. intake tube, filter and the block-off plate. I have K&N filter kit, so those of you who have stock airbox may need to remove the whole setup, front of throttle body. 2. power steering fluid reservoir so I can get more needed space. But no matter what I do, I could not get the wrench on the fitting. At this point, my only option was to pull the power steering pump out with this hose connected so I can take the switch off.
51261736939_4596b71e5f_k.jpg

From here, it was unplanned procedures, so I do not have picture but I'll go step by step of what I did.

First, you need to take the belt off so you can get to power steering pump and AC compressor. Maybe not AC compressor but it was easier for me to move the compressor around and work on it.

Next, needed to take off four AC compressor bolts (13mm) to move the compressor around a bit. I needed to do this to get to one of the power steering pump bolt but maybe you can get away with u-joint or wobble head extension, but at least for me, it was easier to move the compressor. I also disconnected the connector from the compressor, just in case.

After you move the compressor, you can remove four power steering pump bolt (10mm). Pull it out from the top. But Wait! More surprise! This time, lower radiator hose is blocking the way. I can almost get the pump out! Tried and tried, wiggling, turning, maybe I can get it from the bottom..............Decided to drain the radiator to get to the lower radiator hose.

After draining the radiator (half way or so?), removed the top of lower radiator hose. This gave me just enough room to get the power steering pump out. Yes! I did it!! Now I can swap out the switch!
51261736754_6ba5be94e7_k.jpg

As you can see, lower radiator hose remove to give me room to pull out the pump, and the bad bad sensor on it's left.
51261736464_f8ca8b4118_k.jpg

If I knew it was going to be this big of a job, I would've bought a Ford sensor (let this be a lesson to those of you who need to change this switch!) but instead, I bought a cheap Chinese one. Well, at least I know how to change the switch now!

Also, I haven't finish the job. I still need to re-connect the power steering hoses, but time ran out, so that will be tomorrow (06/21). I'll let you guys know about the o-rings, if it does have it in one of those kit I have, which should cost pennies instead of few dollars from the dealer. Yes, I know those o-rings in the kit are not that good, but at least the hose o-rings are easier to change than those sensors!
 
Last edited:
A little vaseline on the rubber o-rings will help with assembly... and will do no harm.

I used to use it to rebuild the old "recirculating ball" power steering gearboxes...
to hold the balls in place during reassembly.
 
OK. I still haven't heard anything from Tasca. No nothing. I will try sending them some message. I hope I can keep my cool.

In the mean time, I was able to work on putting back the line to get my power steering going. O-ring for pressure line, I was able to get something very close from one of the kit I have. The original that was removed from the line didn't look all that bad. It was still pliable and wasn't smashed, but since I found something close enough, I just replaced it. This is the o-ring kit that I used, size was R-7.
51266140554_234b68ed9b_k.jpg


At this point, don't forget to connect the bracket that was behind the electrical connector.
51261191798_aeed2dc142_k.jpg


However, I can't say the same for the lower return line. I couldn't get anything close enough, so for the time been, I reused the old o-ring that came with the hose. It was pliable enough and wasn't smash, so I just reinstalled it. So far, it's sealing so crossing my finger not to leak until I get the o-ring from Tasca. Problem for both o-rings are thickness of the o-ring. Pressure side, I was able to find something close, but for the return side, I found something that's close diameter wise, but didn't have enough thickness.

After putting back the line, it was time to put everything back in order. But before anything, don't forget to reconnect the connector to the switch you just replaced. You have more space for your hands. Also, this connector's main line is shared with AC connector that I removed, so if you did the same, make sure you re-route the wire so you can get to the connector after you put the compressor back. I forgot to do this, so I had to loosen the compressor just enough to re-align the harness.

From here, you just need to put everything back in reverse order, so I'll skip the details. But what I can say is that I was lucky and was able to bleed the power steering fluid by turning the steering wheel from lock-to-lock several times with the engine running. I also had wheels off the ground, so I should've turn the wheel from lock-to-lock before I started the engine. Always something new. Anyway, since I ran the engine while the pump and line dry, first couple times of turning the wheel were little scary as even you put the fluid back in reservoir. I had this horrendous noise from the pump for first few seconds of turning the steering wheel. Anything longer, I would've stop the engine. It was around 3 seconds at the longest. After that, noise went away and bleeding was completed. straighten the wheels, lower the car.

Lastly, since I open the cooling system, I had to bleed the system as well. I ran the motor while it was open because I knew it wouldn't take more than a few minutes. If it took anything longer than what I did ( I would say it was about 3 minutes at the longest. I think it was shorter), I would've shut the engine off and bled the cooling first. Bleeding procedure is all over this sire, so I'll skip that as well. After bleeding the system, test drove the car, came back and check for leak but so far none. But I'll keep my eyes open since one of the o-ring is used, you never know how long this will last.
 
A little vaseline on the rubber o-rings will help with assembly... and will do no harm.

I used to use it to rebuild the old "recirculating ball" power steering gearboxes...
to hold the balls in place during reassembly.
Yes, I know what you mean. I rebuild steering gear for my 86' Monte Carlo SS. It has recirculating ball steering gear. Everything is OK until you get to the balls. Oh what a fun it is/was. My case was 32 balls (could be 36), half little small and other half were bigger and I needed to install them in staggered order. I can't count or remember how many times I cursed...............................
 
So, I finally heard back from Tasca. I had to send them message to find out what happened to my order. Anyway, they finally said it's ready to go out, and got myself a tracking #. Everything sounds, right? Well, let me show you guys this. And mind you, these are o-rings for the steering lines, so you can imagine how big it is (or rather, how small).

Paid Priority Mail. just look at that price. You kidding me? Anyway, I'm used to swallowing this kind of rip-off shipping anyway.
51270475692_cf048a357a_k.jpg


Tracking said otherwise.
51271220761_1d1664e51b_k.jpg


I'll wait to see what they sent me with.
 

You do live on and island.
(shrug)
 

You do live on and island.
(shrug)

I'm not talking about the shipping time. I', talking about the shipping charge and method. Anyway, like I said, I'm used to it already....................
 

Members online

No members online now.
Back
Top