Power assist problem

[vettej1]

Just installed a power steering renew kit from Corvette Central on my '72.
Control valve (new), and slave cylinder (rebuilt), and all new hoses.
After all installed and the system bled the wheel is hard to turn. In fact when I test drove the car it feels like manual steering. I balanced the valve so everything is on ctr.
Any thoughts, anything else I should try or did I get a bad control valve?
Thanks to all.

 

[duke94]

I went through 3 rebuilt valves before I got a good one. # 1 leaked, # 2 hard steer and # 3 worked.

Gary

 

[Hib Halverson]

At this point, let's assume that the installation was per the service manual, the rest of your power steering system is workign properly and the bleeding process was done correctly.

I'll betcha the valve you got was bad.

I'll offer that the only time I've replaced the control valve on my 71, I got it from Vette Brakes and Products and it worked properly. At this point in time, 15 years later, it's still on the car and working leak-free.

That said, nowadays, I'll bet you there are 20 or more sources in the Corvette aftermarket for 63-82 power steering control valves. The more places selling them, the more some vendors will cut prices to compete. In the case of a "rebuilt" or "remanufactured" part, when vendors really cut the retail price, they go looking for cheaper and cheaper sources for rebuilding. Retailers can get to a point with demanding lower cost from suppliers, where the only way to additional cost reductions with rebuilding is to reduce quality controls--for example, instead of testing every valve before packaging, you test one-in-every-10 valves. This could be why Corvette Central sends you a valve that doesn't work.

If you're sure the valve is bad, I'd call them up, ask for a replacement and ask them to pay shipping both ways.

 

[vettej1]

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your responses.

Guess I'll be sending this one back. We'll see if the next one works.
When I rebuilt the chassis I removed the system and reinstalled it as it was the original and it wasn't leaking yet. That was 7 years ago and when I reinstalled that one it worked great. This really frosts me because now she'll be out of commission until the new unit shows up and I was going to a local show this weekend.

This isn't the first time I've received a bad part from these guys, but I had a gift certificate. When are companies going to realize that quality is the only way we can compete these days. If we were that freaked about part costs we wouldn't have old corvettes or any other classic automobiles to begin with.

Thanks again.