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Power Steering Problem... need help!

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SlowButSpeeding

Probationary Member
15
0
Apr 29, 2004
Atlanta, Georgia
First, you can skip the first paragraph unless you're interested in the accident I was in. I have a 2G Spyder Turbo:

Ok, I’m having some Power Steering issues (I think) and I can’t quite figure it out. A couple of months ago I wrecked my car on the way to the airport… I fell asleep at the wheel on the interstate going about 80mph. Stupid I know. I woke up just in time to see that I was about to plow into the back of a tow truck (what irony!) going about 60mph and that gave me about a second to brake hard and try and veer off to the right. That reaction saved my car, since instead of hitting him square and setting of the airbags and trashing the engine; I just managed to nick his big steel bumper with my driver’s side headlight. I’m lucky to be alive… I’ve learned my lesson about pulling an all-nighter and then trying to make the 2 hour drive to the airport. Anyways, the headlight practically disintegrated, and the front bumper, left fender and hood look like someone took a can opener to them. Good part, I thought, was ZERO mechanical damage. Closest thing was the power steering reservoir was crushed. I live in Chattanooga, TN and was flying out of Atlanta, so I left the car there and did my traveling, waiting to address the problem when I got back. The dealership had my car, and I opted to drive it home to TN, since the insurance company wanted to total it ($6700 in damage to a car they valued at $7200). I figured I’ll just fix it myself over the next few months. I start her up, and no problems, I was worried about the Power Steering Pump since there may not be any fluid, but if it burns up, I can just replace it. Everything was great though, and I managed to get her home on the 100 mile trip. I then was only driving it a little bit here and there so as not to let her sit too much without being driven while I waited on some money from the insurance company to fix it myself.

One day, while I was driving it, I noticed this TERRIBLE noise coming from under the hood. The power steering pump was making some terrible racket. I’m almost 100% that it is the power steering pump because it’s the worst at idle when I turn the wheel. However, the wheel still turns smoothly and there are no signs at all the power steering is failing. I immediately curbed the car thinking it had run out of fluid and that I need to finally replace the crushed reservoir from the accident. I put the new reservoir on there and while I’m taking off the old one I noticed it was still completely full, meaning it hadn’t leaked from the accident. So like I thought, when I got the new one on there the problem didn’t go away. It still makes this God-awful noise and I’m not sure why. It’ll be FINE when the car first starts up, but once it gets to temperature it’ll start to make the noise. It’s present while driving, but worst at idle when I turn the steering wheel. Does anyone know what’s going on, and if it is the power steering pump like I think it might be what cause it. I’m not sure if it could be some electrical issue, because the wiring harness that runs under the left fender did incur some damage. About 7 different wires were severed and are going to need to be soldered/repaired.

I can enclose pictures of the car if it might help with the diagnoses here, I’ll just take some with the digital camera if anyone thinks it’ll help you see the problem better.

Thanks in advance guys for any help you can offer me.

Drew
 
My guess is your PS belt is loose, mine did the same thing last winter. check that and pictures never hurt either :)
 
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