1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

[Richard P.]

I had my local mechanic replace the steering box, p.s. control valve, p.s. cylinder, all the hoses and also the idler arm with new parts. I saved the original stuff. I also had him move the tie rod ends from the back hole in the steering knuckle to the front hole which is correct for a power steering car. This did upset the toe alignment significantly. Before I made it to the alignment shop I tried a number of lock to lock turns to check for interference etc.. Thats when the rod end of the cylinder popped the snap ring and seal. All the fluid drained out.

Does this sound like a faulty cylinder, or maybe an overpressure caused by the control valve? The other thing that occurs to me is that the toe misalignment may have allowed excessive travel of the relay rod which then physically forced out the seal. Just thinking out loud here.

All comments, suggestions, recommendations and expressions of sympathy are appreciated. Thanks!

[Timothy B.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

Richard,

I don't think it's the toe alignment as the worst would be badly wore tires. When the new valve was installed was it centered as described in the shop manual, there is info in the archives about this procedure and I would start there as well as making sure the seal kit is installed correctly in the slave cylinder and the snap ring seated properlyin the groove.

This system makes high pressure and I believe there is a relief valve in the pump outlet so keep that in mind, I don't believe you mentioned changing the pump. Also, call the people you purchased the parts from as see what they say about the problem.

[Jim S.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

I believe that there was recently another thread (on another forum) where the same thing happened (new cylinder, snap ring came out.) He reinstalled the snap ring and it came out of the groove again. I believe that there are some aftermarket junk cylinders (probably same supplier, same batch of parts) where the snap ring groove is not machined correctly in the bulkhead or the wrong snap ring was supplied.

Here is the other thread. Sounds awfully familiar. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ring-leak.html
Jim

[Richard P.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

Timothy, thanks for your response to my question. I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Jim, thanks to you also. I followed the link to Corvette Forum as you suggested and my jaw dropped when I read the thread. It is the identical problem that I have. Failure of the snap ring in a brand new cylinder provided by Corvette Central. I also called Corvette Central, talked to tech support, they were unaware of any problems in 1000 cylinders sold so far this year. I had to make a special appeal to Customer Service to get them to agree to replace the cylinder at their expense. This part has been out of stock most of this year, as it is now. Two failed cylinders within days of each other seems like a larger problem somewhere....probably the factory. I'm in the process of registering on Corvette Forum so I can add my support to the person who has the same problem as I do. We must have gotten cylinders from the same production run. No telling how many other owners are having the same problem nationwide. NCRS and Corvette Forum have been a lifesaver for me....I thought I was the only poor guy trying to deal with this problem.

[Russ S.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

Richard, Was your cylinder a new repo or a rebuilt original?

[Richard P.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

It was sold to me as a brand new repro part, not a rebuilt.

[Russ S.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

It was sold to me as a brand new repro part, not a rebuilt.

I had one from CC fail also but it was a original rebuilt (by lone star) which they did replace. That one failed internally and wouldn't function at all.

[Richard P.]

Re: 1963 why did my p.s. Cylinder fail?

I had a follow-up call with CC today, trying to understand the problem with these cylinders. I didn't want them to send me another bad one as a replacement. After a lengthy discussion it turns out there were two suppliers of these cyls. If you got a grey cyl., which I did, there was a chance of failure. I was promised that the replacement would not be another grey one, it would come from the other supplier. I at least feel like I finally got the correct info.. If you got a grey cylinder it may be a problem.