Power Steering stops working and then starts?

So I was at Spring Creek this weekend. At one point my power steering completely stopped working in the Klogger. I stopped and popped the hood. I assumed I had thrown the belt or something. I could not see anything wrong, still had power steering fluid, lines were not busted and the belt was still on. We drove the rest of the day without power steering, which sucked!!!

Then I was going to load the truck on the trailer and the power steering started working???? Got home, drove it off the trailer and it still worked?

Any ideas, the power steering pump is a 1990 F150 and the steering box is a 1982 F150....

Updated - 11/23/08, read the last post on this page

The discovery did this. It had yellow drank instead of red drank like the manual says. Changed it and it went away. Maybe the flushing had more to do with it.

heat?

cook/ sharpe is GAY!

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Originally Posted by agjohn02

heat?

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I did not see any evidence of the fluid boiling over???

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Originally Posted by RCcola55

pump is going out?

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no way, its only 18 years old:flipoff2:

edit: and therein lies my next suggestion

who the **** post from my login? i would say the box, my bronco used to do that and it was something internal in the box

My bronco has been doing the exact same thing on the past 2-3 runs.

I say heat. They oil won't work if it get's to hot. Use synthetic.

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Originally Posted by RCcola55

who the **** post from my login? i would say the box, my bronco used to do that and it was something internal in the box

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me *****

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Originally Posted by redcagepatrol

I say heat. They oil won't work if it get's to hot. Use synthetic.

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What does the pump call for, power steering fluid or ATF? If it is getting too hot you might want to try ATF.

belt could be wet it will slip and not make noise then dries out and works when it dose it have someone watch the pulley to see if it stalls

So I pull it in the garage Friday night to work on wipers, brakelines, etc... Power steering is working. Start it up this morning and the power steering does not work, It was not hot, it was cold. WTF?

So here are my 3 theories:

1) Air or trash in the system??? I will jack it up and run stop to stop and see if it cures it, but I do not know

2) The pump is crapping out, thoughts?

3) The steering gear in the box is shat??? Thoughts?

the plastic ford pump sucks, the saginaw metal can one is better but you have to go to a junkyard and look around in the molester van section to get one. Van powersteering lines fit f series trucks.

You should ask St.John to diagnose this. He gave me a lesson on steering boxes this saturday. Very informative. You might have a malfunctioning spool valve in your steering box or a blocked passage.