Off Topic (Sortta): General Power steering question.

[Tyson Varosyan]

Hi all,

Sorry for the off-topic post, but I need a bit of automotive advice with a
power steering system. From what I understand, they are all pretty much the
same, so I hope that someone here can help me out. The car in question is a
newer (they have been making the same one for 11 years now) Ford Econoline
Cargo Van, E150. Pretty much an F150 truck with a box instead of a truck
bed.

I was trying to get out of a tight parking spot and was doing a stationary
lock-to-lock turn with the wheel when all of the sudden the power pressure
went away in a split second. I am sure that I busted some seal, but where? I
verified that the power steering pump is turning, the belt is on, it has
fluid and is not making any weird sounds. Is my pump bad, or is it more
likely that something went wrong with the steering rack? I am not familiar
with how these things work...

The thing is HARD AS HELL to steer now but both the pump and the rack are
easily accessible, so I would feel pretty dumb taking it to a shop.

Thanks,

Tyson Varosyan
Technical Manager, Uptime Technical Solutions LLC.
tyson at up-times.com
www.up-times.com
206-715-TECH (8324)

UpTime/OnTime/AnyTime