Brake/power steering questions

[grfnkl]

I drove my fathers 87 G/a the other day, and noticed a few things that distrubed me a bit. First of which I've known, is the power steering feels like it's not working when you first start up the car on a cold day. the steering is extremely tight but loosens up after 5 feet. what could cause this?

Next is the brakes, I kept getting told that the brakes "weren't right", The back brakes lock up on damp days, ( the springs probably need to be replaced) what was not brought to my attention is the brakes randomly fail all together and your foot goes to the floor. I'm thinking that the brakes need to be bled, could there be other causes? The Brake light on the dash doesn't come on when this happens.

My guess is the car needs a good 2 grand in repairs to make the car drive ride and stop better.

[GNXdreamin]

as far as the power steering goes, it could be low fluid level, or failing bearings in the power steering pump. As far as the brakes.....maybe need bled, or could possibly be a bad brake booster...check into it. Good luck paul, post back on any developments. P.S. i hope the parts i sent you for your Grand am are working fine.....lol

[grfnkl]

For the brakes the Master Cylinder was dead. it needed a new thermostat, and now the water pump was making noise the other day, NEXT on the list. We'll see though, I'll look into the powersteering somemore when it gets warmer out.

I got most of the parts on except the battery bolt, but that's cuz i'm replacing the battery every year in the car. So until that's stable I'm not boltin it down. Everything else works/looks great.