Power Steering Problems When Hot!

[TofuTakahashi]

Hey folks!

I've been hunting the internet trying to solve a problem with my power steering and I have been at a loss.

I had my engine replaced a few months ago with a shop over in Utah, and during the install they replaced my steering pump as the pulley wheel was quite bent (something I had been planning on doing myself, but always put off).

When I finally picked up my truck it was in the dead of winter with temperatures still floating around freezing--everything when it came to steering was working just fine.

However, as I returned back down to the desert, I have been noticing my power steering cuts out when the engine is well up to operating temperatures--cutting out and becoming still upon turns. When the engine is first turned on, and running for the first 20 odd minutes there is no issue at all with the power steering. For the life of me I have not been able to find the issue and really would like to avoid having to replace the pump.

To summarize:
-Power steering works fine ~20min on cold engine start.
-Once engine hits temps around 170-200F Power Steering intermediately cuts, especially around idle which I have set at 850rpm
-I have checked belt tension and replaced the fluid as I figured it might have been thinning out too much when hot. Issue still persists.

Anyone have any ideas as to this madness? Any suggestions would be helpful!