Hey guys....I was having trouble steering when my car was parked, or coming in and out of a spot, and especially when I first started the car. So I checked the PS fluid level and it was low. I bought some new fluid and added it, thinking this was the prob. I was getting on an onramp, and my steering LOCKED mid turn, as in, I couldnt turn it any further. I almost went off the road, because the onramp curved more, and I couldnt turn the wheel enough. I have to fix this! What's happening???

so its not just your powersteering? its like when you park it and the wheels locks right?

Well, it doesn't "lock, but I'll get a quarter turn and hit an imaginary wall...then spin it back the other way, and once i roll a little, it gets easier...but that onramp scared the crap out of me. Basically, I was turned at 1 o'clock, and tried to turn it further to say 2 oclock, but the wheel wouldnt turn any further...

is the belt still on there? Is it just really hard to turn or does it not turn at all?

kinda sounds like your rack and pinion is going bad..although i really havent heard of many of those going bad on our cars...How many miles you got on your car? If you are low on PS fluid, then you have a leak somewhere, as the PS doesnt "use" fluid. Try and find the leak.

Ehh...I've got 144 on the car, but my engine was just changed...I have a feeling they just didn't put enough in it. I dunno. But no, the belt is still on there, and for the rest of my drive (after the onramp scare) was fine, hard sharp turns etc...so I dunno. Just don't want this to happen again, y'know? Any chance I overfilled, would this cause this?

Your rack and pinion is probably going. That's what mine did before it gave up the ghost. Just keep in mind, you CAN still turn - you're just turning without power steering.

How can I be sure? And if it is rack n' pinion, how much to change it? Parts, etc? Should I go manual rack? is that possible?

By the way...i can still drive my car...right??

So strange. Just went out for a drive, and for the most part, unless I'm stopped or very slow, I don't notice anything. But here's a big thing-when I'm parked, I can turn my wheel almost a full turn, but then it starts violently shaking, most importantly trying to push back in the opposite direction, and as I push it harder, it pushes back harder. same thing in the other direction, it jerks back towards center as I make it almost all the way around.

WHAT is going on???

power steering pump going out?........do we even have a pump?.....its 5am so give me a break.....hell i have steering probs of my own.....i cant hit bumps in the road without the car jumping all over the road....also when i go over railroad tracks and not hold the wheel it bounces all over the place but it might just do that......my shocks are shot so that might be a factor in my troubles but we will see soon...blues on the way.....

dfresh

>power steering pump going out?........

What does everyone think of this? Could be...it's a different power steering pump, a junker if I'm correct, so maybe that's the prob.

Any one of you guys have one lying around? Before I put it on, I want to polish it. Somebody let me know where to go for something like that. Thanks!