I recently had my power steering rack replaced and the car aligned. Since then the steering has been stiff off and on and I figured it was "breaking in" or something. It's been three weeks and around 800 miles since the replacement was installed and it seems to have settled.

When I steer right, it steers as you expect, but steering left is hard - even at speed it's much harder than it was with the old, leaky rack.

I still have to see if it steers differently with the car stopped and the RPM raised. I'll post an update when I have a chance to do that.

I've tried parking the front wheels on cardboard and steering lock to lock with the hood open and p/s reservoir cap removed. No bubbles appear. Steering might get a little bit easier after doing this for a couple of minutes, but it doesn't fix the problem.

I'm suspicious of a couple of possibilities, some more scary than others:

• I know my passenger side LCA is slightly bent, but the car is aligned, so it pulls just a tiny bit to the right at speed. Could this affect the steering feel now that the car is aligned?
• Could it be the P/S pump? How can I diagnose this besides raising RPMs and steering?
• Could there be air in the system?
• Should I raise the front wheels and steer back and forth for 20 minutes?
• Could this be caused by the belt not being tensioned to spec?
• Could the rack that was installed be defective... ?

I appreciate the input!

 

Okay, by raising the RPM I can make the wheel easier to turn, but not normal. Also, there was way too much fluid in the reservoir. I sucked it out until the level dropped to just below the fill line. It may have helped a little, but there is still something wrong.

Any ideas?