sudden loss of steering, 97 T+C

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by flobert, Jun 18, 2006.

  1. flobert

    flobert Guest

    was in town today with the wife+kids, noticed the compaas was playing
    up. Stopped the car in the walmart parking lot, well away from anyone
    else, put the compas in calibration mode, and started my loops. just
    as I was finishing my seond one, th stearing tried to wrench itself
    out of my hands to go straight ahead.

    stopped, and pulled into a space, and jacked the acr up. power
    steering seems to be gone, but the fluid level appears fine. I see no
    leaks on the road (a baking 93F out there today) . About the only
    thing I could see or feel out of normal was something similar to
    Teflon tape, black, hanging down from what feels like some sort of
    cable loom, a little underneith the drivers side inside CV joint. I
    couldn't see any leaks, or hear any.

    For the sake of completeness, its a 97 town+country lxi, with most of
    the extras, 3.9, and I was doing a fairly tight left loop.

    Anyone has any thoughts on whats wrong, would be much appreciated.
    Hate for the wife to lose more than a days work because of it.
     
    flobert, Jun 18, 2006
    #1
  2. flobert

    Ralf Ballis Guest

    Take a look at the V-belt hows driving the power steering.

    Regards,

    Ralf
     
    Ralf Ballis, Jun 18, 2006
    #2
  3. flobert

    flobert Guest

    Its driving it just fine. Used a piece of chalk to mark the pully,
    then had the daughter fire it up - no binding there.
     
    flobert, Jun 18, 2006
    #3
  4. flobert

    flobert Guest

    oops, forgot to say thanks, sorry
    Thanks for responding.
     
    flobert, Jun 18, 2006
    #4
  5. flobert

    flobert Guest

    Ok, followup - got it up on jacks, pully covers on the underside
    removed.

    on the frame LW |=|===|=| RW (lovely ascii art)

    there appears to be some sort of pump, or something bolted straight to
    the second crossbar from the left under the cylinder, one of the hoses
    on the left hand side made a sucking noise when I touched it, Its thi
    area that the teflon-tape like material came from.
     
    flobert, Jun 19, 2006
    #5
  6. flobert

    Ralf Ballis Guest

    OK, the pump element self it's very rare faulty, it could be a faulty valve
    or spring etc. O-ring or gasket.
    The only way is to reassembly the pump, clean it up, replace O-rings and
    gaskets and check springs.
    A manual with drawings and descriptions would be an essential help.

    Maybe with you maneuver at walmart parking lot produce an opening of valve
    and now for some reasons it couldn't close.

    Regards,

    Ralf
     
    Ralf Ballis, Jun 19, 2006
    #6
  7. flobert

    philthy Guest

    was it wet out??? is the wiper module drain inplace and water spilling
    onto the belt???
     
    philthy, Jun 22, 2006
    #7
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