First steering pump now rack, what do you think?

2000 GT w/181k

Months ago I had a noise indicating a bad steering pump and had it replaced with a napa unit. Once installed I had a whine and attributed it to a bad rebuilt unit. Napa gave me a replacement and recommended I install an inline filter which I did, however this 2nd replacement unit also whinned when turning at slow speed. At this point I hit the forum and realized there's a bleeding procedure which I tried multiple times with no succes. Napa refunded my money so I picked up an ac delco pump but the whine was still present. Tried bleeding again with no luck. I took the car to the dealer for a diagnostic and they informed me of a bad rack. I had a small shop confirm this and I saw for myself both boots were torn. The small shop installed a new rack they got locally and now my steering is abnormally tight, I checked the fluid and the level is good. The whine can now be heard when the engine is cold but is harder to hear once warm, yet still present. I haven't tried bleeding since having the new rack installed but my wheel has never been this hard to turn which has me concerned more than the whine, it takes two hands now to park. When I acquired this car 5 years ago it was in need of a rack as it was hard to turn in one direction. When I had the rack replaced back then steering was very light afterwards (almost too light.)

I'm not sure how the steering was on this car before it encountered rack and pump problems but does it sound like the rack I have now was poorly rebuilt?

Thanks

You did good in installing the Delco pump. Unfortunatly there are also LOTS of problems with rebuilt/cheap reman gears. I would say you have a bum steering gear. Try and get a Delco gear also.

Possible this is a magnasteer rack and it's not connected electrically?

Yes, this is possible. I originally ordered a used rack from a company selling parts for 3.8 models and before shipping they had me check for a series of numbers on the inside of my trunk to determine if I had variable steering or not. It was determined that I had non-variable steering so they shipped me a rack with an electrical connector. The mechanic removed the rack from my car and pointed out that it did not have this connector so I ended up returning the used one and let the mechanic pick up a remanufactured unit from a store. Maybe I should have called the dealer to confirm which steering I have.

Is magnasteer a brand? Turning the wheel is becoming somewhat of a chore!

Magnasteer is called this because it uses magnetic fields to increase or decrease power steering assist. As tech II stated, you need to be sure of the steering option you have. The Magnasteer will increase the steering assist at low speed and decrease the assist at high speeds.

Ok, that makes sense. My steering feel is just the opposite, harder at slow speeds and a bit lighter as speed increases.

Just look at the original rack.....did it have an electrical connector? If it didn't and the replacement one did, you got the wrong rack....

The rack i have installed now is identical to the one that was removed, no electrical wiring.