Are Autozone's power steering pumps junk??

[jaybee]

Ok, the original power steering pump on my '99 F350 made it to 310,000 miles. Then it went downhill quickly from a whine to a full brake pedal shaking grind. All the noise came from the pump, so I replaced it with a reman from Autozone. The new pump made everything happy again - no noise and good brakes and steering. This lasted about 1000 miles and then the whine started again. 100 miles later and the brakes were gone, pedal shaking, deafening groan back. Since it was a lifetime warranty I replaced it again lastg thursday. Once again, everything was great with the new pump. Well, this one went about 300 miles and started down the same path yesterday. Still in the loud whine phase, but pedal is already starting to vibrate.

So, are these pumps just junk from Autozone, or is the hydroboost gone as well? I get the impression that the whine is from the internal pressure relief in the pump lifting. Is the spring just failing? Or, is my hydroboost requiring more pressure than the pump can deliver causing the relief to bypass?

Bottom line I'm sick of the whining and sick of changing pumps. What should I do now?

Thank you!

[Gold350]

I recently tired of all the whining from my PSD power steering pump. I researched reman pumps and was told by one shop that A1 CARDONE were to be avoided because they were more concerned with volume than quality ... a lot of pumps were returned. A different shop said that Atsco was the best power steering pump remanufacturer.

I just (less than 500 miles) replaced my power steering pump with an Atsco from Autozone and currently all that I have is blissful silence.

I am hoping that 500 miles in the future the noise does not return. I'll be watching this post to see what develops.

[nitrogen]

is there any possibility something else is causing the pump to fail. are you flushing the system to remove any debris from the failed unit

[jaybee]

Well, I was wondering if the hydroboost could be putting too high of a pressure load on the pumps. The system has been flushed a couple of times, but the fluid was never dirty or burned in the first place. To me it seems like all the noise is the pressure relief in the pump lifting and bypassing - the buzzing being the pressure pulses from the pump opening the relief and shutting it with each pulse of the pump. I can feel it in the brake pedal, and I definitely am down on boost to the brakes and steering again.

Oh, the pumps have been ATSCO 7107 reman pumps with reservoir both times. I'm going to see if I can get my money back and try something else...

[nitrogen]

if thats their specified pump for the app it should be able to run hydroboost unless of course it really is that crappy. i guess maybe i'm gullible but i figure most places autozone included the units are mostly clones of factory, so it should be able to handle it esp new. i would tend to look for any possible restrictions, like gimpy hydroboost, pinched or internally collapsed hoses. just wildly guessing but seeing the problem occur at lower and lower mileage, my thought is hydroboost is doing something goofy and causing pressure to go too high. find out how to test hydroboost. if its bad the pump may have been hurt as well from being maxed out too long