Has your car’s power steering suddenly quit working? If so, it could be that your power steering pump has failed. The unit itself may be shot or it could be a loss of steering fluid through a bad hose that is causing the problem. Regardless, you better tend to the problem now or you will soon be struggling with steering a car that seems to be working against you, not with you.
Before pump failure becomes obvious, you will usually hear buzzing or whining noises coming from underneath the hood. On the other hand, if you notice a gradual loss of power as evidenced by an increasingly difficult time moving the steering wheel [as when attempting to parallel park] or if you notice the problem when you first start up your car in the morning, then your steering rack may be going.
Steering racks fail gradually, but when they do you must take action before total failure occurs. Otherwise, control of your car becomes impossible and failure could then happen at any time, as in those times you are on the interstate. A real threat to your safety and to the safety of other drivers!
To find out if it is the steering rack causing the problem, check the power steering fluid closely to see if you notice small metallic pieces of metal floating around in it. If you do, then your steering rack is wearing out and the metallic pieces are the evidence that the rack is coming apart piece by piece.
Either way you slice it, you can expect that a major repair bill is looming for you. Not the news you want to hear, but not the news you have to hear either. Yes, taking your car in to your local garage or to your dealer’s repair department will cost you dearly. You will pay a mint for labor and pay a premium for a replacement steering pump or steering rack. High labor costs and huge replacement parts price mark ups are all part of the equation.
Fortunately, if you are even somewhat handy you can do either job yourself. Many weekend mechanics love grabbing a hold of their Haynes repair manual and with the replacement part at their side, go after the job. Of course, where you buy the replacement part can really matter, but strong savings can be gained if you shop online. Yes, auto parts wholesalers such as the Steering Rack Pros have what you want and at deep, discount prices. Reputable online wholesalers buy directly from the manufacturers and pass on big savings to you. No dealer mark ups, no third party charges. Just every day low prices on the parts you want and need.
So, go ahead and replace your power steering pump or steering rack today and save big on labor costs and replacement parts. There isn’t much better in life than to do a job yourself and gain a strong sense of satisfaction when you know you have successfully overcome a challenge and saved a bundle of money in the process.
I do my own brakes. I've replaced the window regulators on 3 windows, I've done a thermostat and an alternator. But I'm no mechanic, and I wouldn't even consider changing a power steering pump. Seems just a might bit too hard, maybe, because I'm not familiar with it, and your article didn't enlighten me any. I did do my own shopping for steering pump...e-bay was the best price today, but some online dealers were very close too. Then I shopped around on Craigslist for a mechanic. Got several offers, chose the cheapests. He was great, anyway he was just swapping parts per our agreement, not really diagnosing the car.
So...in the end, that mechanic was the big expense on this job, but all, and all, I got the parts: power steering pump, rack and pinion, and the labor for the replacemenet, whole job was $300. The original quote from Firestone: $900 On top of that, I have a freshly rebuilt rack and pinion in there, that quite frankly, as it turned out, it didn't even need....I did exactly the things Firestone said needed....not even thinking they may have suggested more work than the car really needed... If I had paid them $900 I'm sure they would fixed the problem...I'm not sure they would have really done all the work, that I paid them for.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on 1/23/2006 10:04:02 AM. View other articles written byMatthew C Keegan(3,080)
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