Steering hard to turn

[ems]

My cousin has a 99 Corolla and the steering just got very hard to turn. The strange thing is that right behind the steering wheel you can hear what sounds like two pieces rubbing together. It seems as if whatever it is that is rubbing together is causing the wheel to be hard to turn. Hope somebody can shed some like on this. Thanks.

[fishexpo101]

Could be a number of things. First - check power steering fluid levels and look at what the oil looks like. If heavily oxidized and/or has a burnt odor, flush out with fresh fluid and bleed system for air.

If that checks all - verify that the serpentine belt is tracking on the power steering pump pulley. Might have to remove the serpentine belt, so that you can try and spin the pulley by hand. Note if there is any binding there or pulley side to side play.

Rubbing noise could be from binding in the steering column. Could be outside the passenger cabin or inside the passenger cabin. You'll have to look at it and see if you can pickup any excessive play or binding in the works.