Just got my car back from my mechanic after he replaced the power steering pump and the steering is hard to turn, he says my rack and pinion is bad because I ran the car without power steering fluid for a day. My question is could it be a bad rack and pinion or could I have a bad power steering solenoid? Seems like the cars steering is hard at times then it's good for a couple of seconds for a turn then goes back to being hard. Could there be a restriction somewhere?

 

There could be air in the rack. If its not bled properly there will be dead spots where its hard to turn like you said. I've seen that on other cars where people have not changed the fluid correctly. Try jacking the front of the car up and turning the steering wheel back and forth several times if you can. Thats the best way to get the air out of the system

 

Will do this later today, what are the chances of a bad pump? Do I have to have the power steering cap off when bleeding?

 

You could have a bad pump but it's probably air in the system. Try this: take the cap off and turn it lock to lock a few times (5-10). Be sure to check and add fluid each time to the reservoir as needed. Replace the cap and drive it and see if it improves.

 

I would just take it back to the mechanic and have him do it.

He should have done all this before he he let you drive off.

 

Jacked up the car and bled the power steering seems to have gotten better but still a somewhat hard to turn. Might just get my original pump rebuilt and throw that on, will driving the car as it is break/damage anything?

 

Did you have to add P/S fluid as you bled it? Usually that fixes it. But as FrankT said, clearly they did not road test the vehicle. I drove mine with low P/S fluid for 2-3 days and took mine to Lexus and when I got it back it was perfect. So not sure why they are saying you have a bad rack after 1 day? It definitely seems to have something to do with the pump or the system.

 

The mechanic keeps saying it ls the rack, at this point I'm doubtful since bleeding the system helped. Getting the old pump back from them was a pain in the ***. Will never use that shop again. Planning on jacking up the car one more time this weekend and trying to bleed it one more time.

 

Make sure you run Dexron II or III Fluid. NO POWER STEERING FLUID! Read the owners manual

How hard is hard? Early GS's were harder to steer than later. But I prefer it. There is a module that controls the power steering effort.

Groaning is a sign of air in the fluid. Look in the reservoir for foam. If so, it might take some time. But make sure right fluid is in the car.

 

Fluid is red so I'm assuming it's ATF, it's not that hard it seems to get harder between 3 to 10 mph like when your turning into or leaving a parking spot it gets pretty hard almost like it has no power steering. Bleed the system and had a small amount of bubbles. Right now I'm living with it until a get my Oem pump rebuilt.

 

Check on RockAuto for a pump. They have pump rebuild kits too, my friend at Lexus said its pretty easy to rebuild the pump. Its a well designed pump, with the reservoir up top it should self bleed very quickly.

Beck Arnley buys excess OEM parts and reboxes, so keep that in mind, and Denso is also a common OEM supplier.

I use a brake bleeder for my compressor to suck the fluid out and refill. I do it 2-3 times to get a good swap of most of the fluid.

Yeah something isn't right if you have trouble at slow speeds like that. Air won't help. The fluid is up high enough? Going a little high isn't a problem, there is room for expansion for really high temps.

 

my suspicion is that its the solenoid on the steering gear itself. the steering ecu tells the solenoid how much assist to give. at slow speeds the pump is utilized more for easier effort and high speeds the solenoid backs off pump output so the steering is stiffer. put your attention towards the solenoid located on the steering gear under the car. there is an electrical connector. maybe check the wires and see if any are frayed or pulling out of the connector. than consider replacing that solenoid first.

 

Ordered a rebuild kit, will be checking the solenoid this weekend. Been busy working on my Mazdaspeed 3 I bought trying to get that running at the moment.