My 2004 Outback power steering was growling and squealing, but it was working ok at the time. I decided to replace the power steering pump before it completely failed and 3 hours later I was done. the growling and squealing was gone. However, when I backed the car out it was hard to steer at first. When I got going it all worked great, until I turned at the corner… hard steering again. When I got around the corner and up to speed everything is great again. The problem did not go away with time. Every time I turn at idle there seems to be no power steering. What is going on?
My guess would be that you either did not tighten the drive belt properly or that the belt is slipping. A new pump is harder to turn and replacing the belt will usually fix the problem. I hope you got all the air out of the new pump because that can cause problems as well.
Concur. Sounds like the belt is slipping only when much is asked of it…like.making sharp turns at low speed.
Suspect old or poorly-tensioned belt.
No Check Engine light?
Tester
To purge the sir out of the steering rack, turn the wheel lock-to-lock 3 times.
Some cars have a fluid filter screen on the pump intake inside the reservoir…If they plug up it will starve the pump…Check that first…
The problem might be with the power steering pressure sensor on the power steering pump.
This sensor sends a signal to the computer along with the vehicle speed sensor to determine how much power steering assist is required for the speed that the vehicle traveling.
Tester