Power Steering With a Mind of It's Own

[No Rotr]

So I just got my car almost all back together and running today, but I have a serious problem. With the car running if you turn the steering wheel it jerks violently in that direction all the way to the stop, then back the other way an so on. Its is crazy, almost broke my arm. So I asked a friend and he said that the valve on the steering gear is probably stuck and won't stop sending pressure. The rack didn't have any fluid in it for about 3 months and it just got fluid back in it today for the first time since. Is likely that the valve will just unstick itself in a couple days when the fluid soaks back into it, or should I just start to look for a new rack? The car is on jack stands right not and isn't going to be driven soon, thankfully.

[Matt93SE]

Sounds like your pump or something is done...
When you said the rack hasn't had fluid in it for 3 months, have you been driving it with the belt on and no fluid for 3 months, or was it just sitting on jackstands not running?

If you ran it that long without fluid, I'm going to be the pump is done.

If it hasn't been driven, it's possible there's just a clog in the line somewhere. leave the engine off and turn the wheel back and forth lock to lock and make sure the fluid is topped off. See what happens with that.

[e1_griego]

Did you have the lines removed and reinstall them?

[Rittmeister]

Did you have the lines removed and reinstall them?

I second this question. I had a problem where I got the bright idea to remove the lines on the rear of the rack to avoid crushing them during an engine swap. I had the same problem you've got, but I installed the lines backward, so the wheel would jerk in the opposite direction from where I was trying to turn it. Perhaps you have something that's gone wrong there as well.

[Your Mom]

Had that same problem before, trying to remember. car sat for awhile then wheel jerking. pretty sure i ran the car without power steering for a couple weeks and tried to hook it up again and it worked. Since then i've gotten a newer rack, thou. Don't think it was the lines, but might be worth a look.

[No Rotr]

The car has been sitting on jack stands for the last 4 months and all the lines have been off the rack. I'm pretty sure that the lines aren't wrong. I would have had to rebend lines to make it go on wrong. Its impossible to swap the pressure and the return lines, they are different size fittings. The steering doesn't try to go the opposite direction you turn it, it goes the same way you turn it.

[No Rotr]

So I'm retarded, the two hard lines on the rack were swaped. I fixed it and its back to normal again. Thanks for the help and for dealing with my dumb self.

[e1_griego]

Knew it!

Glad you figured it out