Bent power steering pump mount?

[rcurtin]

Hello there,

I decided today was a good day to curse outside so I went to work trying to figure out a small issue that's been bugging me for quite some time: the power steering pump is misaligned! See below:



Don't mind the fasteners in a strange position in the corner of the image---that was after some attempts at shimming it and it's not actually tight in that image (but that doesn't make a difference for the angle). No matter how I play with it, I haven't gotten the pulley to actually align with the belt. And I do have the power steering belt in the right place:



Before I put too many hours into this, I wanted to ask if anyone has encountered the same issue, or if anyone has any ideas of what part being bent might cause this. I've checked the power steering pump itself and the bracket that connects to the front of it; those seem fine. The pulley itself is fine. The tensioner is stripped, so I can't get the belt particularly tight---I am wondering, could the tensioner have a function with aligning the belt too?

I am not sure any of this makes sense, but I figured I'd toss the pictures and question out into the void and see what comes back. Tally-ho!

[a]

Re-locate the pump mount to the front of the bracket. You may need a longer bolt and a nut.

[BRRV]

I'm assuming this is an M30 (looks like it). I once got my car back from a "professional" shop with the pump installation and adjustment bits and pieces incorrectly installed. That big piece of sculpted, cast aluminum that all of those pieces get attached too is pretty impervious to alignment issues; I'd take a real close look at all of the bits and pieces (see realoem) and make sure they are a) attached correctly and b) not bent, or otherwise warped etc., and then look at the pump itself to see if the pulley is just simply worn and unable to track correctly from, say, incorrect v-belt tension.

[Mike W.]

From here, with useful, but less than perfect pictures, it appears the P/S pump body was levered out to tension it with a worn out or wrong sized belt. It did always seem the P/S pump had to be tensioned more than it should be not to slip, but I never had a problem with alignment. Early alternators, mostly pre or early E28 with rubber mounts, emphatically yes, but P/S not likely.

[rcurtin]

Huh, I just noticed today (...four years later) that I never posted the resolution here. I'll do that just in case someone out there stumbles upon this thread...

It turns out *the belt itself* was bent:

[gadget73]

thats an odd one. Usually I use a straight edge laid across the face of the pulley to check alignment. You can tell pretty quick by the time it gets a foot or so away if things aren't right.

[Freight]

This is interesting…I have the same issue. I’ll have to pull my belt and see if it’s also bent haha