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POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!

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POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!
« on: April 15, 2009, 12:31:03 PM »
ANYONE HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE POWER STEERING?

I did, for about 2 weeks, I thought either my pump, rack and pinion or some other problem with suspension.  There were hard spots when you turned the wheel, almost like something was binding.

Jacked her up and checked:

Well, fluid was fine, so underneath I go.

Rack & Pinion, no leaks, everything LOOKS fine.

Ball Joints, steering joints, Tie Rod ends, everything O.K.

Had another guy turn wheel slowly with vehicle on and off.  Could see a noticeable hard spot around by 12:00 on the steering wheel.


Well, I jumped back out from underneath the car, checked tension on the serp. belt and no visible problems.  WTH????   Oh wait.........what's this wire behind the P.S. Pump.  A single wire with a slip-on type connection to some sort of sensor on the back of the P.S. Pump.  So I pulled it off and noticed a little corrosion, so I cleaned it off, put some di-electric grease on it and BAMMM.......

it's fixed!


The little culprit was the "power steering pressure switch", which has only a single + connection on it, but when that's disconnected, or corroded in this case, it acts exactly like your rack is gone!

I can't imagine how many of you may have had the same issue and brought it into a dealership and they say it costs over $650.00 to replace the Rack and Pinion.  I'm sure they cleaned off the connection after. 

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Offline Davyboy

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Re: POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2009, 01:07:59 PM »
That's nice to know.  Thanks for the info.
1999 Grand Vitara w/CALMINI Suspension and RRO Body Lift, 31" Goodyear MTR tires, Skidplates, 5.12 Diffs with a Lock-Right in the rear.

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Offline Sn0vv

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Re: POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2009, 04:19:16 PM »
*jaw drops* ESKYMOPACK ........thanks for pointing out another stupid flaw with our vehicles.....it seems even with all the great engineering in these vehicle that some MINOR but essential piece gives out because they did not wanna spend the extra 5 cents and get it done properly.....and usually ends up costing big time for the customer.....

AKA my little run in with the EGR valve problem......EGR VALVE=great idea, poorly engineered and not able to handle day to day stresses

2000 Cheverolet Tracker 2.0L 4cyl 5 door hardtop
with all options and 4x4 to top it off

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Offline beercheck

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Re: POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2009, 08:52:24 PM »
*jaw drops* ESKYMOPACK ........thanks for pointing out another stupid flaw with our vehicles.....it seems even with all the great engineering in these vehicle that some MINOR but essential piece gives out because they did not wanna spend the extra 5 cents and get it done properly.....and usually ends up costing big time for the customer.....

Corrosion is bad engineering?

Go buy a late model Volkswagen, own it for a few years, then come back and bitch about this again.
'03 ZR2 2dr Tracker, '02 XL-7 drivetrain and electrcs
XL-7 front coils
1.5" rear coil spacers
Monroe 32316 shocks w/2" extenders
235/70-16 Bridgestone Destination A/Ts on stock XL-7 Alloys RRO Rock Rails (Presently removed, as they rusted to all hell; all the bolts were rusted to dust.  Real nice, RRO...) http://www.trivia-nights.com

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Offline Sn0vv

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Re: POWER STEERING PROBLEM? Possible Solution!!
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2009, 04:01:19 AM »
Yes its bad engineering.....

a part that has something to do with steering corroding in the canadian winter.........sounds like a safety issue to me........no different then the crossmember corroding (mind you that was a factory mistake)........body corrosion is the norm.......vital parts corroding BEFORE their time......bad engineering
2000 Cheverolet Tracker 2.0L 4cyl 5 door hardtop
with all options and 4x4 to top it off