Power Steering delete for fuel economy gain - anyone done it?

[Sven7]

I'm still a bit confused. Here are my straightforward questions:

If you just pull the belt, will it ruin anything?

If you then cap the lines, will it ruin anything?

If you then drain the fluid, will it ruin anything?

Is there any decrease in steering effort without fluid? (Ie, is it the same as EOC)

Thanks

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Now I've done power steering delete for fuel economy gains, but I don't drive enough anymore to post any reports quickly.

Which method did you use?

[dennyt]

Originally Posted by Sven7

1. If you just pull the belt, will it ruin anything?

2. If you then cap the lines, will it ruin anything?

3. If you then drain the fluid, will it ruin anything?

4. Is there any decrease in steering effort without fluid? (Ie, is it the same as EOC)

I pulled the PS pump, got a shorter belt, and drained and capped the lines in my '94 Subaru Loyale about 2 years ago. The steering still feels great, i.e. nothing is going wrong. The effort is lighter with drained lines than it was before with just EOC (lines full of fluid but pump not turning).

So, your answers:
1) Nothing will go wrong, as long as the belt you remove only drives the PS pump! If it drives the water pump or alternator as well, you'll have to find a shorter belt.
2) If you remove the pump and cap the lines without draining the rack, fluid will want to come out of the lines when you steer, so you'll feel resistance and probably pop the caps and spray fluid all over the front of your engine.
3) Draining the fluid hasn't caused any damage to my car in 2 years.
4) The steering is lighter without fluid in the rack & lines, compared to fluid in the rack & lines with the pump not turning.

I only notice the increased effort at parallel parking speeds, where I have to put down my coffee and actually drive with two hands

The increased steering feel has warned me of black ice more than once, as the steering gets slightly lighter in the middle of a turn. Wouldn't notice that with power steering!

[Frank Lee]

What he said. But I simply pulled the belt, all else is still full and connected.

[echo-francis]

so i can just take out the belt and the liquid and no problem for me?
why i heard about looping the lines?

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by echo-francis

so i can just take out the belt and the liquid and no problem for me?
why i heard about looping the lines?

Yup! As far as why people remove everything and connect the lines, probably to clean up the engine compartment and/or to save the weight (my pump/pulley/hoses weighed around 12 lbs).

[oil pan 4]

Some people put gear oil in the P/S box, or sometimes grease.

[ATaylorRacing]

A few years ago I put the under drive pulley kit on a SOHC 98 Neon that I drag raced. The Micromachine picked up nearly 3 tenths in the 1/4 mile and a full 2 mpg at 55-60 mph. It never felt like it affected the steering. Last August I pulled ALL of the power steering stuff off of my 95 SOHC Neon that I drag race. It picked up nearly 8 tenths in the 1/4 (equal to about 8 hp!) and my mpg went from 42 at 55-60 to 46! It has a nice firm steering feel on the road, but in the parking lots it is a bear....SO, I will be putting on an electric pump from a Honda, MR2, Jeep, or Prius...and have it hooked up on a 12v switch so I can simply turn it on when low speed tight turns occur. I kept the AC working since some one posted the smaller belt that is needed to place on the car. The compressor has no adjustment, but the belt worked almost perfect....a couple of spacers between it and the block should tighten it up enough to eliminate the small amount of squeel that I sometimes get. BTW, using my AC at 55-60 mph uses 4 mpg more fuel...but I am wus and in hot weather near Cincy I run the motor all the time to keep the AC running, then shut it off when I head to the lanes to keep the condensation off the track. I actually checked my mpg filling up here, driving the 110 miles to the track, racing, driving back home and it used to get 26-27 mpg total, without the PS stuff the car now gets 30 for the entire trip.

[electronFarmer]

When I converted the Ford Ranger to all electric, I Did not want to put a pulley on the front of the motor for power steering. I checked out a couple of options, like putting a pulley on the driveshaft at the differential and a pump attached to the differential. Apparently that is how the stock car racers were doing it for a while. Instead I found a manual steering box at a junk yard and installed it. The yard that had it was glad to get rid of it telling me it had been in inventory for over 4 years and I was the only one to ever ask for one. All I paid for it was shipping from the other side of the state.
Roger, the guy I built it for complained (well he was cantankerous and complained about everything) because he was old and steering was tough, but he got used to it.
Going to the manual box solved a lot of fabrication time. Of course you guys are talking about gas savings, but if I had done the rear differential set up it would certainly have taxed the motor power...

[dennyt]

Running power steering off the driveshaft means you have 0 assist in parking lots, which is the whole point of power steering in a daily driver.

[electronFarmer]

That is precisely why I chose the simplest solution... manual steering box.