Power Steering Issue 97 GTS - Question for members

[Kmrumedy]

Wow. It has been awhile.

Last weekend my Viper stranded me for the first time in 8 years during the night on a deserted road. Was driving and my power steering became intermittent. Luckily I noticed the battery light come on suddenly and my temp started to rise quickly so I pulled over and shut down. Unluckily I had no cell phone.

I checked under the hood and the serpentine belt had come off. A nice old gentleman drove by and lent me his cell phone so I could get the car home.

I thought I had simply thrown the belt. Under further inspection it seems the pulley on the power steering pump completely cracked and disintegrated. I can still turn the crank to power steering easily by hand. I was surprised how brittle the plastic felt.

I am just uncertain how this could have happened? Anyone else have this happen to them? Cause?

Anyone know what the pulley costs? I am going to bring it to the tech just to be safe. At least the belt stayed intact.

Here is a picture of the pulley.

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[GTSHolgi]

I think that is probably the most common and well known issue of GEN 2 Vipers. Tons of postings and advice here on this Forum. You'll see that everyone is recommending to replace the plastic OEM pulley (and cast OEM bracket!) by a nice billet pulley (e.g. IPSCO) and bracket as proactive maintenance to avoid exactly what has happened to you. After all, I think you can still be lucky not having caused any big damage.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLACE THE BROKEN/BRITTLE PULLEY WITH ANOTHER OEM PLASTIC PULLEY!!!

 

[Steve-Indy]

The billet pulley and bracket set costs about $180.00 from PartsRack. This is a necessary investment for a Gen II.

 

[Kmrumedy]

Forgot to do a search....how newbie is that! Lol! Sorry guys and thanks for the info.

I thought if you used a metal pulley you had to offset it with thicker washers? Is that correct because the manual says not to use metal pulleys. Ok......let me do a search!!

Thanks guys

 

[Kmrumedy]

Ok.

Did a search. Got the t- shirt. Metal it is. I am going to replace the bracket at the same time.

Seems like there are three contenders from Roe, partsrack, and ipsco. I've always ordered from Jon so I think I'll go that route. Hope he has it in stock as I need it fast and I am in Canada.

This is the proper kit correct?

http://www.viperpartsrack.com/billet-power-steering-pulley?keyword=Power steering

 

[AZTVR]

Forgot to do a search....how newbie is that! Lol! Sorry guys and thanks for the info.

I thought if you used a metal pulley you had to offset it with thicker washers? Is that correct because the manual says not to use metal pulleys. Ok......let me do a search!!

Thanks guys

The Roe Racing steel pulley requires spacers which are provided in order to get the offset correct on Gen 2.

Ok.

Did a search. Got the t- shirt. Metal it is. I am going to replace the bracket at the same time.

Seems like there are three contenders from Roe, partsrack, and ipsco. I've always ordered from Jon so I think I'll go that route. Hope he has it in stock as I need it fast and I am in Canada.

This is the proper kit correct?

http://www.viperpartsrack.com/billet-power-steering-pulley?keyword=Power steering

That is the most popular kit, I think. i.e., aluminum pulley and bracket. The Roe Racing kit is steel pulley and aluminum bracket.

 

[AZTVR]

P.S, Make sure that your harmonic balancer/damper bolt is tight and the damper is not loose on the crankshaft snout. Just saying that because that is a common problem and could possibly have been the initiator of the belt wobbling and PS pulley finally failing. (Although, it is very common to find that just the pulley has failed, or just find it to be cracked, and waiting for an inopportune moment to completely fail.) For the same reasons, check to make sure that the idler pulley for the belt spins nicely and does not wobble. With higher mileage those are a failure point on any model car.

 

[Kmrumedy]

P.S, Make sure that your harmonic balancer/damper bolt is tight and the damper is not loose on the crankshaft snout. Just saying that because that is a common problem and could possibly have been the initiator of the belt wobbling and PS pulley finally failing. (Although, it is very common to find that just the pulley has failed, or just find it to be cracked, and waiting for an inopportune moment to completely fail.) For the same reasons, check to make sure that the idler pulley for the belt spins nicely and does not wobble. With higher mileage those are a failure point on any model car.

I checked the other pulleys and they are all good. I didn't think to check the harmonic balancer/damper bolt. Thanks for the tip.

 

[GTSHolgi]

Ok.

Did a search. Got the t- shirt. Metal it is. I am going to replace the bracket at the same time.

Seems like there are three contenders from Roe, partsrack, and ipsco. I've always ordered from Jon so I think I'll go that route. Hope he has it in stock as I need it fast and I am in Canada.

This is the proper kit correct?

http://www.viperpartsrack.com/billet-power-steering-pulley?keyword=Power steering

That looks like the IPSCO pulley I have. You can't go wrong buying this one from Jon. But be aware, that the billet pulley is heavier than the OEM plastic, so it will eat approx. 0.78 HP ;-)

 

[Stonep185]

I advise you replace the belt tensioner pulley with another stock one. Several people ,including myself, had them self destruct after replacing the p/s pulley.

 

[EllowViper]

My ROE replacement aligned perfectly without any washers, shims, or any nonsense. And it didn't come with any 'washers' either. But mine is about 7 yrs old though.

 

[Dan Cragin]

Call Jon at Partsrack or Sean at Roe Racing. They both can provide you with the PS pump bracket (improved) and an upgraded aluminum pulley. You might want to replace the high pressure hose as well. Snake Oyl has an aluminum fill tank as well, the plastic one tends to warp and leak with track use.