Why does my power steering become difficult at turns and impossible at low speeds?

Question

I have a base 2005 Chevy Impala that is in fairly good condition and for the past 9 months or so the power steering has been acting kinda funny. I'm going to try to give as much detail here so bare with me.

9 months ago I replaced an axel on the front driver side and everything seemed to work fine with the exception of the drive being a bit more stiff (I figured this was because it was new). After about a week that cleared up and about 2 weeks after that I went to make a left hand turn into my garage and the power steering went out. For about 2 months it did this sporadically but only on left turns at low speeds. It then started this whining noise or hissing like you would hear when a hydraulic looses pressure but again only when turning left.

Fast forward a few months and turning left at any time got hard to do and the hissing was at all times. I started to notice that when my car was in idle and I let the wheel go it would twist a bit to the left on its own. Also from time to time when I'd make a slightly sharp left like into a parking space I'd hear a slight popping noise.

Then finally just yesterday I made a left a bit  sharp and heard a pop and now my left turn has loosened up a bit but turning right is very hard to do. I'm 6'4 at 210 lbs and trying to turn that wheel right almost lifts me of my seat.

I have friends that work on cars and whatnot but without knowing what is going on I don't want to waste their time around the holidays. I have had people tell me many things that even as good as I am with my car I have no clue what they are talking about. I'm not just care free and irresponsible with my car and just let things go but I am a college student and it is very hard to make ends meet so if this is something I can do that would be great if it could be explained on how I should go about checking things and if it is a safety hazard then I will figure out some way to take it in.

I appreciate any help and the fact that you where able to suffer through my spiel.

anthentherwasi · Accepted Answer

It's empty you need to find out where the fluid went cause if it's empty it leaked out

Stpaulguy · Answer

First observe the condition of the rack boots as you move the wheel full left and right. Make sure the boots aren't twisted and the pleats compress and uncompress smoothly. There's a TSB about the boots twisting. Next, you'd want to disconnect the outer tie rod ends and try the steering (engine running) with it disconnected from the wheels. If it's smooth, then the problem is in the ball joints or upper strut mount.

If it's stiff while disconnected, then it could be the rack, the pump, or the intermediate shaft. GM has had TONS of problems with the intermediate shaft. There's a TSB on this too. The IM shaft is like a mini drive shaft with a U-joint on it that turns the input shaft on the rack. Because it turns in an awkward way, part of it has to slide in and out of the steering column. GM has had trouble with the shaft binding in the column. They've developed special grease and redesigned this part several times. The TSB warns not to replace the rack until you've done all the steps for the IM shaft.

Something is causing your steering to bind. I can't answer why it's worse left than right. But to diagnose it you first have to isolate the components.

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Why does my power steering become difficult at turns and impossible at low speeds?

2 Answers