I think my power steering's shot

[DJ Taso]

This morning on the way to work it was fine. After I got off, I realized it was getting harder to make left and right turns. The steering was stiff and I had to use some elbow grease to turn the wheel. So I tested it again at a light both ways and it worked. The next light it did it again. Could my power steering be going bad? What parts would I need?

I also checked my power steering fluid and it was about half way full.

[bru333]

Just a thought. How is the belt tension? Slipping maybe? Bad tensionier? Stretched belt?

I've had a ps pump go bad, and it made a lot of noise before it started losing pressure and caused steering problems.

[TraceZ]

It was 1/2 full? where did the fluid go?

Fill it up and see if it works, then find the leak.

Usually pumps groan really bad when they fail.

[fastTa]

Like Tracy said, usually power steering pumps will whine pretty loudly when they are going bad, but not always.

I would also first check to make sure your serpentine belt is not glazed. Then check your fluid. If it is black, that is usually indicitave of rack seal failure. If it is normal color then it could just be the pump getting tired.

Take a small magnet (extension magnet would be best) and stir it around the resevoir to see if you get any metal particles on the magnet. If there are metal particles, this is usually a sign of pump failure.

I would first try to drain the fluid and then refill with new fluid. The best way to drain the fluid is at the lines on the rack. This might help, but if it doesn't you might want to also consider taking it in to have the rack and pump profesionally flushed. It is unfortunately common for "gunk" to buildup in the rack over time. You can eliminate this though by installing an in-line filter on the return line before the pump.

Taso, either way if you need another pump I have a few good pumps with less than 20k I'll sell you cheap. Let me know.

[AmericanZ28]

I would first try to drain the fluid and then refill with new fluid. The best way to drain the fluid is at the lines on the rack.

I tried this a while back after having identical symptoms, and it fixed the problem. I disconnected one of the lines at the rack and turned the steering wheel side to side to help get out as much fluid as possible. I filled up with with synthetic fluid and haven't had a problem since. This was probably 4 years and 40K miles ago. Hopefully this will be all your car needs, Taso.

[97LT1Z28]

I had the same exact thing happen to me last year. It was a bad Crank Pulley. The seal that holds the outer ring gave out and it was just slipping without making any noise. Before doing anything extensive, pull the belt off and check that . . . . .

As they say in China . . . . . Good Ruck.

[DJ Taso]

More bad news. I took my car to work this morning and was going to get a power steering flush after I got off, but as I pulled into work I popped my hood and noticed this:

Looks like I blew my water pump. There's coolant all over my engine compartment and leaking under my car. In pic you can see my water pump leaking coolant. My dad said the reason why I was having power steering problems was because the coolant was being shot onto the belt and it was gripping?

It's a good thing I bought a distributor and water pump a couple months ago since I was planning on changing them over the spring.

Sorry about the pic sizes, I don't have a photoshop program at work so I couldn't resize them.

http://djtaso.com/images/P4150042.JPG

http://djtaso.com/images/P4150043.JPG

http://djtaso.com/images/P4150044.JPG

[Joe 1320]

Barf. That would do it. BTW, when you do the swap, get the appropriate new front cover seals for the opti and water pump or you'll be doing it twice.

[AmericanZ28]

Are you using green coolant taso? I always thought that our cooling systems required the dex-cool orange coolant.

[Z Ya Later]

Are you using green coolant taso? I always thought that our cooling systems required the dex-cool orange coolant.

Naw, the Dex-cool coolant wasn't introduced until 96 I believe (maybe 95). 93, 94 and I believe 95 cars had the standard green stuff. Sorry to hear about the water pump Taso, that sucks big-time.

[DJ Taso]

get the appropriate new front cover seals for the opti and water pump or you'll be doing it twice.

Where can I get them? Part #?

[Joe 1320]

Where can I get them? Part #?

This will help..........

http://www.f-body.com/forum/showthre...ptispark+seals

[fastTa]

Where can I get them? Part #?

Front cover opti drive seal 1993-94 - 10128317
Front cover water pump seal 1993-1997 - 10217886
Water pump driveshaft o-rings 1993-97 - 12553792
Water pump gasket 1993-97 - 10128343

Make sure you install the opti drive seal dry. You can use a tiny bit of anaerobic sealer on the outer surface to aid in the install and that will be fine. A 1/4 drive 10mm deep socket makes a great "guide" when installing the water pump seals.