What are the symptoms of a faulty power steering pump?... Stiffyness?...
I was driving my car with an extremelly low level of fluid, At some point it was screeching but I added fluid because it was almost empty!..And no, I don't have any noise!.. I changed the steering rack about 3 months ago, it started feeling soft and easy to turn in any direction!..Now it's stiffy most of the times, and some others turns easily to one side, while returning it to the other (especially parking) results in more phisycal work!...Sometime at some point when turning to one side, the steering feels no pressure at all and like if by magic the steering itself turns abrutly all the way to the limit of the turn, but if I try to reurn it to the center position its very hard!... I changed, ball joints and tie rod ends!...But I also had a guy who told me to inspect the crossmember, because it might be broken or cracked!..I haven't inspect it yet because it has been raining hard, but I'll check that very soon!..
I hate to say it, but the issues you have - stiffness in one direction and not in the other, sudden movement in one direction - are controlled by the assist valve in the rack. The rack you put in is almost certainly defective. The pump would affect both directions equally. Mike
might flush out system and add fresh PS fluid. also try some of the lucas oil ps additive. might fix the problem. verify ps belt is tensioned correctly and not slipping. If not rack may need to replaced again.
