No power steering fluid?

[steve 944t]

Am I likely to damage anything if I drive my 944 Turbo with no power steering fluid? I have developed a pretty major leak which I cant investigate at the moment. It's not coming from the pump itself (unfortunately), but somewhere near the middle of the rack.
The car drives ok, but makes lots of groaning noises, so I am concerned that I may damage the pump.

Thanks.
Steve

[dern]

If you've run it with no fluid in it you've probably already wrecked the pump. I don't know what affect it would have had on the rack. If you haven't wrecked the pump yet you probably will so is there anyway you can take off the drive belt to the pump without affecting anything else? If not then I wouldn't drive it as I would have thought eventually the pump will seize and the belt will break and affect whatever else is driven from that belt. I'm afraid I really don't know if your rack reverts back to a 'manual' rack without fluid pressure from the pump... I'm pretty sure it would need to in an emergency situation but whether or not it's safe to continue to drive it like that I'm not sure.

You need to seek professional advice imo.

Good luck,

Mark

[ninemeister]

OK if you disconnect the drive belt to the pump, thus driving in non-assisted mode. However this is not recommended unless you have arms like Arnie and need the workout.

[steve 944t]

Thanks. I only drove it about a mile yesterday to get it home so hopefully should be ok. It did give me a shock when I was trundling down the road and suddenly the car didnt want to turn

[dontlift]

ninemeister said:

OK if you disconnect the drive belt to the pump, thus driving in non-assisted mode. However this is not recommended unless you have arms like Arnie and need the workout.

I had to run mine like this for around a month, and you do indeed need arms like arnie - but at the same time it felt great through the twisties

[williamp]

I rebuilt the rack on my 944, (and the pump) and I cannot imagine driving a short while with no fluid will damage the rack itself. The pump will probably be damaged, as it uses the oil to cool the internal parts.

If you get a chance, squeeze the steering boots either end. If they make a squelching sound, the rack has gone and needs a rebuild.

Mine burst a return pipe (from rack to pump), and spewed oil everywhere. Very messy. Fortunantly (and touch wood) my current Turbo doesn't have a PS leak.