P/S delete help - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Chalupa102 · 10-20-2009, 02:18 PM

I've been reading about people disabling their power steering and am interested in doing this on my '05 Corolla. The biggest problem i found is that i really can't remove the p/s pulley cuz the way the belt is routed.

Is there anything i could do w/ the p/s to still gain the benefits that people get with the delete? Would it even be worth it because the pulley would still be there?

Also, in case anyone is wondering, i have lightweight crank and alt pulleys installed.

meanjoe75fan · 10-20-2009, 02:56 PM

Yeah, I was wondering that too, because my Contour has a similar serpentine belt setup. Even if I could route a belt w/o PS, I'd have to figure out what belt length would work...seems a lot better to leave the pulley there, but not have it actually do anything.

I wish I knew more about the setup...I mean, you have a pulley connected to the pump. Assuming it has some sort of shaft connceting the two, you ought to be able to physically seperate the pump from the pulley, then re-install the pulley as an idler pulley. Who knows--it just might be possible to do this without doing anything irreversible!

I'd love to hear from someone who's done the delete: pick their brain for ideas how to go about this.

vtec-e · 10-20-2009, 03:47 PM

You're looking at a whole lotta work for a very tiny gain. Not worth it imo. If the PS had it's own belt then it would be a very simple job. I did it in my civic but only got one or two mpg. I also unplugged the electric power steering in my yaris and got nothing apart from a pulled muscle in my shoulder! So it's plugged back in now.

ollie

IsaacCarlson · 10-20-2009, 05:18 PM

I took the lines off the pump and plugged the holes and pulled the vanes out of pump so it freewheels and filled it with fluid. right now the lines are just cut at the vector and rack. There are no bearings in the pump, it is a submerged bushing so you need oil in there.

bgd73 · 10-20-2009, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtec-e

You're looking at a whole lotta work for a very tiny gain. Not worth it imo. If the PS had it's own belt then it would be a very simple job. I did it in my civic but only got one or two mpg. I also unplugged the electric power steering in my yaris and got nothing apart from a pulled muscle in my shoulder! So it's plugged back in now.

ollie

this is true. not much gain. the cars are so small anyway. even tractor trailers could care less, manual or not. the mass of what is turning, its as if the preciseness of the power steering has no demand at all. A one cylinder could turn one.
This fact went farther into my current setup, an old sube with much bigger wider gnarly tar grabbing tread on. The power steering needed the engine fan, it simply got a bit warmer..my gas mileage is way over what it used to be.

Take advantage and put bigger tires/wheels on? the power steering or gas mileage won't care, unless it can get hot with no cooling. old power steering pumps were dramatic in the dragging, anything foriegn and most of new american is quite disciplined.

meanjoe75fan · 10-21-2009, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IsaacCarlson

I took the lines off the pump and plugged the holes and pulled the vanes out of pump so it freewheels and filled it with fluid. right now the lines are just cut at the vector and rack. There are no bearings in the pump, it is a submerged bushing so you need oil in there.

Is this feasible for some angle-grinder fun? Y'know, just turn the vanes into lotsa sparks and re-install?

vtec-e · 10-21-2009, 05:29 AM

The vanes are the sliding type. When you open the pump you'll see them slotted into the rotor, which is off centre in the housing. As the rotor spins, the vanes slide in and out, providing a seal all the way around. So it's a completely reversible mod......once you don't lose the vanes!

ollie

moorecomp · 10-21-2009, 10:05 AM

Here's 2. The yellow path may not work well with the tensioner. Oh, and you would need a grooved pulley on the tensioner instead of smooth. Could probably get at j/yard easily.

IsaacCarlson · 10-21-2009, 11:11 AM

The belt tensioner might be prone to hitting another pulley because of the direction of tensioning pull. Most tensioners pull at a right angle to the belt and if you lessen that angle you might be pulling the belt tighter than you think.

Just my $.02

gascort · 10-22-2009, 12:40 AM

Ford made an escort pony with no p/s and it was a bit faster and those seem to run 1-2 mpg over the other ones...
I was trying to eliminate my serpentine P/S, A/C, and Alt. belt altogether. Not sure if I'm going to get the electronics to work like I want, so I may end up looping the P/S lines and seeing if it does anything.