Hi Everyone
This post is just to hopefully help anyone who has intermitant power steering problems. I have a 95 PGT that has suffered from power steering failure after a hard exceleration. I have posted asking for help a few times and got a few replies. The belts were both tight. I was afraid it might be the power steering pump, or perhaps the steering rack. There was plenty of fluid in the pump and I bled the rack so I knew there was no air in the system. About a month ago, the car started to make a kind of ringing sound, comimg from somewhere on the passenger side of the engine. Problem is there is 2 belts, and 6 pulleys and it was not possible to say which is was. I thought it might be the water pump. Last Saturday I decided I needed to get into it and find out what was wrong because by now the belt sometimes even slipped and you could hear a squeeling sound. When I got the belts of I checked all the pulleys. The lower idler pulley didn't sound or feel right. When I got it off and tried to spin it, it felt like there was sand or a broken bearing or something in the thing. It also made the sort of ringing noise. For $10 I replaced the bearing, retightened everything, and now my problem is fixed. No more failing power steering, no more ringing sound. It seems obvious now that was the problem all along, but isn't it always obvious when you know the answer. Anyway if anyone is having similar problems try and see if the bearing in either of those pulleys might be the problem.
09-23-2006, 07:33 AM
