[krUnIzZlE]

Idk whats up but one day i got in the car and the steering wheel is REALLY hard. like, if im turning, and i let go of the steering wheel. it will stay in that poosition and the car will keep turning. its hard to drive the car in traffic and the steering is hard to move. the steering wheel was fine a couple days ago but now its back to hard and stingy. anyone know whats wrong?

anything can help


EDIT: i forgot to mention its a 1996 Toyota Camry LE "Gold Package" it got 2 12's in it and a Sony Cd player with Sony x9's and Sony Door Speakers...

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

Have you checked the power steering fluid?

 

[krUnIzZlE]

its full.

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

Any leaks, have you checked the belt? Also you might to bleed the PS system

 

[krUnIzZlE]

i dont know how to bleed the PS system....


is the power steering pump or w/e/ out?

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

first check the power steering belt.

 

[krUnIzZlE]

its all there. power steering belt, power steering fluid.


the fluid is black. can that cause the problem? my friend said it should be like a pee yellow LOL

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

this should help.
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t19334.html

 

[krUnIzZlE]

so dats my problem? the steering fluid?

 

[DFBonnett]

Your fluid may be yellow, the color of the OEM stuff Toyota puts in. It may be red, the color of Dexron, a factory approved replacement. What it shouldn't be is black.
I think replacing the fluid should be your first order of business.

 

[krUnIzZlE]

k, i will do that, ima go to Napa and get the steering fluid. it can only be Dexron or anything? my parents never took care of the car. the battery poitive was so rusted that one day the car wouldnt start. and guess who gets the blame. ME! "you broke the car. blah blah bah" god i hate when they do that.

 

[weinerk]

Did you ever get this problem resolved? I'm having the same issue with my 2000 Camry. Strange thing is is that when the weather is cold, the power steering works fine, but when it warms up outside I get the same stiff steering symptoms as you.

 

[llcoolpass]

check that the belt is driving the pump

 

[EEngineer]

i got the same problem, but in a more scary way

my steering works 99% of the time, but sometimes when i do a slow U turn
the steering wheel turns rock solid, so I have to force it hard. But the problems resolves itself usually in a few seconds...but it's scary as hell.

I believe the powersteering belt needed to be changed, because when i do full steer lock on either end, there is a very ugly loud noise coming out from the axle area

 

[krUnIzZlE]

na, im gettin a new car

lol

but i did get a Kicker Solobaric 12 inch L7. w00t. cant wait to put dat in..


and, when its hot, its good, when its cold, its hard...

 

[llcoolpass]

it does what EEngineer?????

that's messsed up

that's not from power steering, it should never LOCK UP

take it somewhere, like toyota dealer for inspection A.S.A.P.

just a stupid thing to bring up, but there are loose rack bolts that dealers sometimes find on these cars....

good luck

 

[EEngineer]

it doesnt lock up 100% but gets really hard to turn...i'd have to use a lot of brute force

 

[llcoolpass]

i drove w/out power steering, it's not THAT bad, unless you need to improve on those mus culls
hah :>

 

[weinerk]

Well, this is what happened in my case. I checked the power steering belt tension and it was fine. The belt was also in good condition. A Toyota dealership mechanic suggested that I try dumping the power steering fluid with new stuff. So I purged the system of the old fluid and found it to be contaminated with moisture (quite a bit of it). I wasn't sure when the system was last changed. I put in new Castrol Dextron III fluid and the rack started to get smoother and smoother. The right hand check valve was stiff definately sticking because it was harder to turn right. I drove it like this for a couple of days and the valves in the rack have seem to free themselves. This is still a sign that the rack may/will go in the future.

 

[EEngineer]

i think i'll go get my power steering fluid changed then =D