Sounds crazy, but tried the obvious and the belt didn't feel as if it loosened up at all. So now Im wondering which way is the "Right" way to loosen the belt?

I've tried both ways and the belt seems to be as tight as it was when I started so I dunno. If the alternator belt is this difficult, I don't know if I want to even mess with the power steering. Haynes manual can be so useless sometimes....

 

Loosen the pulley.

 

The power steering pump adjuster is actually reverse threaded. It's also easy to miss loosening the pivot bolt on the PSP.
http://davidgeesaman.com/maxima/Power-Steering-Pump.JPG

But other than that, it's like every other adjust pulley: loosen the center nut of the pulley a little bit, then work the adjuster bolt.

Dave

 

Dave: This shot was taken by looking at the pump from the bottom right... looking upwards from the bottom. Is replacing the pump a DIY job? If yes, any inputs as how to go about replacing the pump, I have stiff power steering and I am suspecting it is the pump. I have 116K on my max..

 

you have to loosen the bolt on the idler pulley (turn CCW), and then loosen the tenisoner screw. even though it is reverse threaded, you turn it CCW as well - this 'tightens' the screw, making the pulley go up thus loosens the tension on the AC/Alt. belt. both uses 9/16' - weird, I tried using a 14mm and it seemed small and tried a 15mm, and it seemed too big...????

 

The accessory belt tension adjuster is reverse threaded too.


With that said (to the OP), you need to turn it counter-clockwise to loosen it.

 

I've replaced both the pump and the rack.

In my case, the rack was the problem. I've heard of other people having bad racks, and very few people having bad pumps. I replaced the pump because I got a good used one for $50. You can change the pump yourself, but pull the pass side axle first. Then remove the belt and the hoses and unbolt it.

The pic was taken with the pass axle out, looking up with the wheel to the right.

The steering rack is more intense. It can be done, but it's more difficult than the pump.

I've seen a lot of power steering hoses leak just because the metal clamps have lost compression on the rubber. Loosen the clamp, move it out of the grooves in the rubber, and retighten. That cleaned up my leaky hoses.

Dave

 

Didn't have enough light to look at all of these yesterday so Im going to have a look see this morning.

Thanks for the pic dgeesaman. Looks like thats a pretty tuff spot to get to though. im going to give it a shot, but don't be surprised if Im back for ideas on how to get to that bolt!

Thank you all!

Capitone

 

One last ?, is the PS tensioner lock nut too reverse threaded. I had my belts replaced at AAA Car Care center, and I tried loosening the tensioner but before that the lock nut had to be loosened, which I couldn't while turing it counterclockwise.

When my PS issue was investigated, they told me the pressure was getting lost in the rack which I found hard to believe, since there were no leaks. The pump did generate the right pressure but then the rack was not holding it.. Now based on some 4th gen racks, I can believe it could be the rack. I got a quote of $1100 for the rack replacement which is why Iam putting it off. I have flushed the sucker and added Seafoam to it, it seems to have loosened it a bit. This is a temp fix till I get get a rack and a decent quote for replacing it.

Anyway, this hard steering had forced my wife to not use my car -- she has a tough time in parking lots where the access is less, and with poor PS, this is a no no for my wife.

 

I got the alternator belt off. That pulley tip did the trick.

The power steering however....that was a pain. I loosened the bolt behind the pump, very awkward, but I got it off, then I turned the tensioning bolt counterclockwise as suggested on this thread. Never seemed to get really loose. I turned that thing probably for 20 minutes (very short area to work in) and it never got loose enough to remove the belt.

Tried the pulley trick and that only turned the whole pulley wheel. Frustrated, I tightened the bolt behind the pump back and replaced the alternator belt with the new one. Adjusted the tension and everythings running fine, but I want to try that power steering belt again.

Anyone have any tricks for this one?

 

Bump for Capi

 

Capi Bump:

 

Does anyone have input/ideas on how to get the power steering belt off? I want to try this over the weekend. Troubles encountered are noted above.

Capitone

 

Here's exactly the procedure I use:

1) Remove the A/C belt first.
2) Get in behind PSP and loosen the pivot bolt. I just loosen it a 1/4 turn. I find that a long-handled pivoting head 3/8" ratchet from Sears will just sneak in there enough to do it while standing in front of the wheelwell.
3) Loosen the bolt holding the PS belt bracket.
4) Loosen the adjuster bolt, remembering to go in the opposite direction. This should loosen the belt enough to remove it. It may help to put a little grease on these threads.

Then I just put it back together in the opposite order.

Dave

 

like dg said. I think you missed a bolt...

 

You have to get behind the power steering pump, right near the Y-pipe, 14mm bolt you need to loosen to allow the power steering pump to lower all the way. Without loosening that bolt, you WONT be able to lower the pump to get the belt off

-matt

 

For future reference, I suggest buying a FSM, a $10 FSM on CD from ebay, or downloading it for free... Everything you need to know is in there.

 

Sorry for putting this in this post but i cant make a new thread...
While I was driving my car started to stall (96 Maxima 5 spd) and started to smoke...i started it back up, drove home appr. 3 blocks parked it and waited for daylight to see. The next day i noticed my drive belt was torn and ripped so i bought a new belt. I placed the belt on but now the crankshaft pulley isnt turning but the car is cranking. One week later, attempt no.2 to see wat is wrong, i checked the alarms cutoff, the battery, but now the car isnt even turning over. ANY HELP PLEASE?