Power Steering (Official Thread)

[AleroME]

Hey.. Today When I was backing into my drive way .. Halfway through.. I heard this vis or grr noise while my steering wheel was cut all the way to the right. then I'd experience a hard to turn steering wheel. But as I would rev the rpms higher.. it would be easy again. While normal driving its easy to turn the steering wheel but when at a complete stop it goes hard again until I held the brakes and rev it (in drive still) up to 1000 rpm and it does back to easy then llet go of the gas and its gone.

I have searched the site and read something bout the steering control valve.. can that be it? or the pump maybe going bad?

[my99gagt]

thats a problem i had, had to get the pump replaced and its fine now, though quite the expensive part

[Jorak]

Having problems with my 2002 Grand Am GT. While going about 45 or faster during lane changes or even sweeping turns, the steering wheel will kind of slip and quickly move into the turn. It happens both to the left and the right. Bringing the car into the dealership for service, but curious what could cause this kind of thing. Any ideas?

[detroitgt]

Originally posted by Jorak
Having problems with my 2002 Grand Am GT. While going about 45 or faster during lane changes or even sweeping turns, the steering wheel will kind of slip and quickly move into the turn. It happens both to the left and the right. Bringing the car into the dealership for service, but curious what could cause this kind of thing. Any ideas?

Power Steering pump is bad, my old Saturn did the same thing with 9000 miles on it. Easy fix.

[mekaleka]

On my '02 Alero it was the steering position sensor. It was repaired under warranty.

The feeling is very disturbing when you first experience it.

[kire]

I'm having the same problem right now!

Time to visit GM and have it checked out. Whew. I thought it would be more serious.

[Mike Jung]

I just changed today the Power Steering fluid in the reservoir tank (about almost filling a Campbell soup 284mL/10 fluid oz can with old fluid).
After parking over-night on my level driveway with the engine cold.
By using a kitchen turkey baster (that I bought at a 'dolllar store') to suck out the out fluid & used to add the fluid to the tank from a bottle.

My GA has 82.1K km [51K miles] & 5.5 years old.
The old power steering fluid looked meduim to dark bownish/red colour.
The new fluid looks clear with a hint of amber/golden yellow to it.

Now it seems when I turn the steering wheel hard (like driving out or backing into my driveway), there is no more noticable power steering whine/grinding noise

I think I will change the power steering fluid in the reservoir tank one more time in a week; to get more of the old fluid out & re-fill with new fluid.

I used AC Delco Power Steering Steering Fluid (part #89021183) 1L bottle.
It costed me for a bottle $5.25Cdn (vs $7Cdn dealer list price).

[Brendon]

Originally posted by Mike Jung
I think I will change the power steering fluid in the reservoir tank one more time in a week; to get more of the old fluid out & re-fill with new fluid.

Just to let ya know, I had to change it 5-6 times before getting it completely clear

[tintin]

I have a problem with my power steering, I will try to explain the best way I can :

- On and off I have a hard time going in a straight line with my car, it seams like the car wants to go to the left or to the wrigh, if I keep my steering weel in center it will want to go to the left or the right and it feels like the steerign weel gives little jerks even to the point of being uncomfortable.

- Last night I did a test, I was alone on the road and kept the steering in center and noticed the car was going left and right on the road even if I was keeping my steering weel centered. ( it's not the wind )

- I also noticed that when I start the car and the steering feels hard to turn I will have a hard time keepign the car in a straight line

- Not long ago I bought a pair of kumho tires and had to get ride of them cause I could not keep the car on the road. I reinstalled the Good year tires it was less of a problem.

Does somebody else have the same problem.
Can somebody help?

[kire]

Sounds to me like you're in need of an alignment.
Might also need someone to look at your power steering. But mostly alignment.

If there's nothing wrong with the tires, I'd check out the rack and pinion, sounds like it something in the steering linkage.

[tintin]

I have been 2 times to the dealer for this problem and they came up with nothing, the weel alignment is ok and the tires are ok and it happens on and off.

I can even drive for days and the car will work fine and bang it starts to do this again.

[louveres]

I have the same exact problem. I posted a few months back before I took my car to the dealer. They adjusted my steering wheel and 2 hours after I left the dealer it started doing it again. They had no clue, but this time when I go back for thie same issue, I will have the mechanic from the dealer drive my car. On the highway, if you go over 70mph, it can freak you out, car will just switch lane without you doing anything.

[louveres]

It has been a month since my car stopped having this issue. There is one thing I did that took care of the problem. Tire pressure was 4.2 PSI, I lowered it to 3.3 and now my baby rides on the highway just like it did before. So guys, check your tire pressure, make sure it's not too high. It worked for me. Good Luck!

[illsmokeyou]

Originally posted by tintin
I have been 2 times to the dealer for this problem and they came up with nothing, the weel alignment is ok and the tires are ok and it happens on and off.

I can even drive for days and the car will work fine and bang it starts to do this again.

next time you take it in, have them check your upper strut mounts. There is a bearing inside the housing that should be able to move freely as you make turns, banks, etc.

if the mounts were warped, or the bearings shot, theres a chance that the plate is not moving freely because it is getting jammed up against the warped metal.

Try this:

make a left hand U-turn, and then straighten the wheel...... see if it pulls to the left only.....

then do the same on the right, make a sharp right hand turn, or U-turn in a parking lot, and free up the wheel again. Now see if it pulls hard to the right this time

have you been driving on roads that are being worked on? I've noticed that with any car, sometimes the tired might so to speak "grab" to the ground. Like there may be sum type of indentation on the road that is long (long lengh-wise of the road" and sometimes it can cause any car to wiggle. U may feel some resistance with your steering wheel. JMO..

Another reason I said that is becuase the main road outside of my neighborhood is being worked on or widened. Ive noticed everytime I drive on the east side of the road, there is this one part where my car will vear to the right, and i will feel resistence in my steering wheel. I got my dads car, and it did the same thing. Same thing with my moms car. So i decided to take a little walk, and examine the street while there was hardly any traffic. Ive noticed that the road is uneven, and there is this indentation that swerves to the right. Thats where my car vears to the right, even if I'm holding the steering wheel....Try and retrace your steps to where the problem occured, and see if you can see anything wrong with the road...

OK....you know the sound and vibration u get when u turn the wheel all the way in 1 direction....too much tension on power steering belt....IM GETTING that driving straight 2001 grand am se 2.4...am i correct or could something else be wrong

•Just got the Jet PCM and got a ligit 14 HP at the wheels

[Licit]

I've had a noisy, as in hissing and squeeky, power steering pump for a while. Never had probs with the steering. A guy that works in town has seen many a noisy steering pump on GA's and says that it will last past 100,000 miles but at 87,500 I cannot bear the damn thing anymore. After doing a search I didn't notice anyone really bringing up the matter on here. Just wondering what one people bought if they have replaced theirs? Looking around on the internet there are several choices to pick from. Some, from Mexico, are as cheap as $50(no reservoir). Of course the American made with the pump and reservoir run above $150. I am assuming I will go with the no reservoir deal but don't know whether it matters if I go with a cheaper priced one. The original that came in the car became noisy by about 40,000 miles.

[2002AmSE]

One of my friends had his get noisy at 35k and kept it until it was at 45k, still seemed to work decent, but the steering's strange squeaky noise that it started doing after the pump was going bad didnt go away after replacing the pump.

Other people say the squeaky noise is happening to them, but they dont say they have power steering pump problems, so it might just be a different isolated issue...

..In the end I don't think the noisy pump makes a difference, also a few people on this forum say to flush the power steering system has fixed the problem .... not sure if that will work for you, but it could be a good idea