power steering problems .... cant seem to get it fixed

ok, i posted a few days ago about a power steering problem. And as it turns out i am almost positive that teh pully on the ps pump is bad. I came to this conclusion by lifting the belt a bit and jiggling the pully, which moves freely (side to side) when there is no tension on it from the belt and the shaft seems to stay in place. Also i noticed today while idling it is not even spinning the shaft on the pump anymore, , IS it possible to just have the pully replaced?

Mistake #1 -- i am a college student and i go to school in rochester ny, so i dont know of any good mechanics here, so i took it to MIDAS. I knew when i took it there that it would end up being a rip off but i figured i could deal with it since i didnt know of any other shops around......until the told me it would cost $598 to fix my problem. without even removing the belt or doing anything really to properly diagnose the problem, they just told me it needed a new pully, belt and pump (all parts which seemed ridiculously over priced from what napa would charge for the parts).

Now i may be wrong, but i just dont see how the pump could be bad? I never had a single prblem prior to this incedent with my steering. it never squeaked, whined or anythign it worked perfectly...teh car only has 57k miles. Now i see the pully visibly detached from the shaft so by my reasoning, the pump is not actually "pumping" thus the loss of my power steering.

Midas told me that they would not even do just the pully because their "professional opinion" was that the pump was bad...but giving me no reasoning as to why it would be bad, other than (im assuming) to take my money (since they did not bench test it, or even remove the belt and whats left of the pully to see if the shaft is actually damaged).

I called around to a few shops other random shops today out of the phone book and they say that they have never heard of just the pully going bad?

Am i just loosing my mind or is this a problem that does happen and can be fixed?

also anybody know of a good mechanic here in rochester ny? i have an appointment at a place a friend recommended for monday, ill see what they say, but i would like to get this fixed tommorow if possible.

also, let me know if i am out of line for thinking that i was being ripped off when midas gave me that quote, i am just upset that they couldnt give me any reasoning other than it was their "professional opinion". not to mention when i was asking questions the jerk said very smuggly "do you even know anything about cars?"

i am really sorry for the very long post but i had to vent somewhere, thanks for any help, and thanks richtazz for you response to my last post in helping me determine if the pump was bad or not.

sorry..forgot to mention, its a gt 3.1 v6 auto trans, 57k and has the variable effort steering

The simplest and cheapest way to replace this pump would be to do the job yourself. The major problem is that you will need a place to jack the car up to get under the car as you will need to remove the hoses from the rack and pinion. Secondly, you will need a pump. Check car-part.com. I found several in the Amsterdam area for less than $100 they should be complete with the pulley so you won't have to replace it. Once you remove the lines and the old pump, if you are strapped for cash you can use the same lines but replace them as soon as you can. Install the feed line to the rack and pinion and fill the pump. Leave the other line free and put the end in a pan, run the car and pump fluid through it to flush the pump and lines and remove the air. Reinstall the line to the rack and refill the reservior. You will need to check it for a day or two to make sure you get all the air out. This should save you a lot of money if you have the tools to change it. Good Luck! PS I think the pump went bad and the pulley is just the evidence of that.