Power steering fail....

[lineman1984]

Hey guys!
Wanted to write this post to possibly save someone else from the frustrating experience I had this evening. After putting a great deal of money, time, and effort into some new Sanderson headers and a 4 barrel setup on my FE 360, I have managed to coat the drivers side of the motor in power steering fluid!
In order to install their midlength blockhugger headers I had to remove my power steering box. While I had the box out I decided to replace all of my power steering hoses (they were weeping fluid). After installing these beautiful new headers and doing a complete 4 barrel swap I reinstalled the existing steering box and new hoses. In my haste to do a test drive of my new performance toys I neglected to refill the P\S pump. So I topped off the P\S pump at the local gas station. It took two pints. Barely made it home with the open headers and Holley 600 pumper before the local law enforcement caught me! Everything seems to be running perfect, ready for a little exhaust work!
After a test drive and some tuning I popped the hood to find my beautiful new header covered in P\S fluid. I had noticed one of the belts squealing when revving to setup the carb. It seems I had overfilled the P\S and the belt was letting me know it didn't like the excess work to turn the pump! After a few miles of test driving I had purged the system enough to cause it too force the excess fluid from the dipstick\filler hole. What a mess!
It seems I should have "burped" the system by jacking up the front end and running the steering system to full lock in both directions a few times before topping off the P\S pump reservoir.
This also caused my P\S belt to jump up and flip over in its sheaves.
Hoping this saves someone else a mess under the hood of their prized Slick! If you have any more knowledge on purging these P\S systems please pass it along in this thread!
"Keep on Truckin'"
Justin

[ICEMAN6166]

ahh very unfortunate the school of hard knocks brings sometimes a messy education

not a big power steering guy myself but i have worked on them before and yes bleeding or burping as you say is a necessity whenever the system is drained

glad you posted this for others to think about