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Horsepower loss

captainchrysler

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Joined
Feb 8, 2021
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Location
Rushmore, MN
I'm going to post this question on a few different forums because I know there will be more than a few answers, anyway...

How much horsepower is used (lost) with power steering? I'm looking for actual hard empirical facts, not any of that "I think..." BS. I have enough of my own "I think.." BS going on in my head.
 
You might be hard pressed to find someone who knows the answer because of any scientific measuring of a loss of power when the steering was disabled - on a dyno or other means.
 
Then there is power during use (turning a corner) and power simply going in a straight line. Pump pretty much just pass fluid when not doing work.
 
I am not sure if anyone has ever done a dyno run checking this. You may be able to search for drag video's where someone has made passes with out belts and compared it with their passes with belts. Knowing the car's weight and E.T. you can figure out the Horsepower and compare with or without belts. Like the dyno, I don't know if anyone has done this
 
I know that there is actual info about this out there. I did see a report from Chrysler from 67 that gave what each accessory used. That was on a form I'm not on, and that was dated more than a decade ago. Power steering was around 12... I think, maybe, I can't exactly recall. I really doubt that any of the car companies would't have updated that info from time to time.
 
The alternator was the big power draw in drag racing. Most ditched power steering more for road feel and weight reduction than power lose.
 
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