Okay so I bought a power steering pump from someone on here about a year ago and just got around to installing it. The guy I bought it from told me it was in 100% working condition with only 33k on it. Think I paid about $170 for it. Well, after installing it, as soon as I plugged up the power it turned on. Even with the ignition on/off plug in it still stays on. So I'm thinking I got sold a bad pump or there is a short in my system somewhere telling it to stay on all the time. But my old pump worked only when the car wasn't hot and it never stayed on with the car off.

Well, what I ended up doing was going from the hot to the FL4 100amp fuse, then to a simple toggle on/off switch, then back to the other end of the power source. Now I have the ability to manually turn it on and off at my pleasure which is kinda convenient.

I am curious if there is a power source in which is only on when the engine is running that I can wire to the switch as a "remote" to tell it to turn on when the engine is on. Then I can turn it off if I want. But for now this works and I at least have power steering when I need it haha, and I can turn it off when I hit up the track!

 

Just use a relay and any 12v source to trip it when the car is running....should be pretty simple. Pretty smart actually. But a 100amp relay or dc switch is kinga big and $$, but if you gound one that works, congrats!

 

Yeah exactly. But I want it to turn on after the engine is started, I think if it turns on before it'll draw a ton of power from my battery on every turn over. I'm going to go to a local electronic shop and see what then can come up with. They're pretty inexpensive too!

 

The electronics on the pump are going nuts! (you probably already know that).. But anyway, same thing is happening to my car and I've been disconnecting my battery from inside of the car since my stupid boot decided to jam itself shut.. I bought a brand new OEM pump and fan for $360, I did think about doing something like you're saying but I'm just going throw it out and put the new one in..

 

As far as a relay goes any kind you reccomend as far as size or could you run a switch to tap into the two wires an simply use an inline fuse?

 

"Well, what I ended up doing was going from the hot to the FL4 100amp fuse, then to a simple toggle on/off switch, then back to the other end of the power source. Now I have the ability to manually turn it on and off at my pleasure which is kinda convenient."

Hi, I ran into the same problem and am wondering what steps or parts you used to come up with a toggle switch.

 

Just remember, it is not a perfect fix...
the pump runs on 2 speeds.....the reason for the electronics, and you are just cutting the power....
Early on a few MINI'S DID BURN due to ps pump issues, so i urge you just to use this rigged fix as a very temporary fix till you can save up the $$ to fix it right.....

 

Right, this is a temp fix for my situation until I can afford a pump. I was just wondering where to get a toggle switch rated for 100 amps.