Looking for the cause of a thumping noise I believe to be coming from the P/S pump. I know the pump is leaky and sometimes it cuts out, but the pulley seems to vibrate when running the engine, I cannot move it by hand though, it turns but I mean like wiggle it back and forth.

Is it possible that the "spindle" the pulley attaches to with the 3 10mm bolts can go bad?

 

Almost sounds like the bearings went out in it

 

So replace the power steering pump?

Can someone educate me on what a person means when they say "rack." As in, my mechanic said ai should replace the power steering rack two years ago, because it was leaking.

I am looking in Haynes manual and I see steering column shaft, is that a rack? Or is it the steering gear? Or am I way off?

 

The rack is the part that spans the width of the car and connects the wheels.
The column connects to the rack.

You may have two issues going on, the noise and the leaky rack.
The bearing in the idler pulley could be bad...remove the belt and spin the idler and pump, see what you find.

Leaky rack is a whole 'nother animal, that requires overhaul/replacement of the whole thing.

 

Clokker, youre the best bud, so knowledgable. Allow me to pick your brain some more. Thank you very much for all the help, I dont know much about steering and suspension.

I beleive its the pump, as I know the A/C pulley is bad and I think its a different noise. Also I think I am seeing movement laterally in the pump pulley not the idler. With the rack though, do you think the problems related? Like the leaky rack has caused the pump to wear out (I have been having the pump get low and lose PS and refill for the past year instead of fixing the rack)? The rack draws fluid from the pump correct? There is fluid sprayed inside the engine bay, this is a new development I believe coming with the noise.

And lastly, are the idler for the A/C and the idler for the P/S exactly the same? I ask because I am thinking of just buying two new idlers, four new belts, and a new P/S pump. I had some money put aside for belts since I think its needed them for a while now.

 

Oh and do you guys think I could drive it like this to work? 40 miles a day, I need the car for the next four days in a row, or maybe at least two of them. Could it cause a catastrophic failure in some way? Or leave me stranded somehow? Im thinking only if the pump explodes or some **** and the belts get tangled, otherwise I just lose PS for a bit.

 

My experience with power steering has only been to remove it.

Given the unknown nature of the leak and the suspicion of pump failure, probably your "safest" bet to keep running is to remove the ps belt and drive without assist till you can fix things.

The steering will be harder without assist (not at all the same as a real manual rack) but shouldn't "explode".

Probably.

 

The AC and PS idler pulleys are different. I wish they where the same as I have a bad PS idler pulley.

I pulled it off and packed the bearing full of wheel grease as a temporary measure. Instead of shrieking it now just goes clickity clickity. Still needs to be replaced though.

(don't get drunk and replace belts. The reason the pulley failed is due to too much belt tension)