The power steering has been acting up on my 02 windstar, so i replaced the power steering pump, but its still stiff and very hard to turn... Anytime in the past whenever i had a ps problem, i'd replace the pump of whatever vehicle and all would be fine.. but not this van... What other component could be the issue that my steering is acting this way..

in the begining of it acting up, it would get tight, like the ps would just vanish, than show right back up again, but no longer... it's gone for good..

there is no leak, i used a new ps pump, pulley, fluid... you can see the fluid flowing when you look in the resevoir...


any help would be highlly appreciated..

 

Could be a dead rack.. Sometimes as they start to go bad, you'll get a 'sleepy rack' where the P/S has high effort cold, or may be in one direction only during R/L turning and then as the fluid heats the rack will work as it should.. Any indication prior to the complete assist failure? how many miles on the van?

 

93k..


and yes, it would only do it steering right at first, now it's no bueno either way... R or L...


possibly have a link to a breakdown of this rack? or alink to some simple instructions.. ?

i should be able to replace it but have never done one...

 

Breakdown 'as in' rack removal? If so i can send you the rack replacement instruction.. I does require that the rear of van's sub frame be lowered a few inches to gain access, and for clearence to get the rack out..

 

I have a 1999 Windstar 3.0L that needs the rack replaced. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

PM sent

 

I had the same issue with my 04 Freestar years ago. Stiff steering in both directions. Replaced the pump with no change. Ended up being a bad U-Joint for the steering shaft. Sprayed the U-Joint with some WD-40 and the steering loosened right up for a few days before returning to stiff. Replaced the part with the U-Joint (about 1/2 hour job). Been fine for about the past 100K miles. Give it a peek-see/try.

 

Hi, newbie here. Here's my problem: my 98 Windstar Cargo van, 3.0, has a problem with blowing the return power steering hose where it bends behind the engine on the passenger side of the engine compartment. I put a new pressure and return hose on when I replaced the ps pump last November.

And last night it broke right at the crimp on the return hose. Second time in 3 months!

I changed the fluid and flushed the system last time. And I cycled the steering back and forth to make sure all air was out but the ps pump still made noise. What I used for fluid was Type F but I have seen the TSB mentioning replacing the fluid with Mercon V, which is what I'll use this time around.

The only line which wasn't replaced before was the cooler line which is routed in front of the rad. I have a new one now which will be changed.

The question remains: why would the return line keep blowing up at the crimp? My fix is gonna be getting a short chunk of 3/8" ID ps bulk return hose and double-clamping each end to hold it securely in place.

That may be a temporary fix but I would like your opinions on which way to go here? How hard is it to change the rack? To me it looks easy to pull it out of the driver's side without dropping the engine cradle.

Anyone's comments and/or advice would be greatly appreciated!