Ive got a 2001 Durango with a 4.7. A while back my wife crashed into a curb and I had to have the steering rack replaced, so that is brand new,not rebuilt. So anyways that was about a year ago. Now I am having troubles with the power steering, The colder the weather is the harder it is to steer. I know my tensioner pulley needs to be replaced, but it doesnt overheat and the oil pressure is good,turning on the heat or ac doesnt effect anything and it is holding a good charge so I dont think the serpintine belt is really that horribly loose, but still I know it is a possibility. Today for some reason it started steering pretty normal all of the sudden. I popped the hood and there was PS fluid all over the resevoir, looked like it built up a lot of pressure and came out of the cap or something. Also, I would like to add that I sucked the fluid out of the reservoir and filled it back up with new fluid 3 times so the fluid is fairly clean I think, I mean I dont know how much the sytem holds but I am assuming doing that 3 times would have helped if that was the problem. Oh, and one more thing is before I started having this problem if you turned the wheel a quarter turn or so and held it in place, the wheel would kind of jerk back and forth by itself. If anyone who really knows what theyre talking about could help me identify these symptoms I'd be grateful. Please if you dont really know what youre talking about dont answer. I am in between jobs and my money is very limited so I am trying to do this by myself and do it right to save money. Giving me uneducated guesses will just be taking food from my families table. I know that sounds rude, and I am sorry, but its the truth. Thank you in advance,

Larry

 

You sure it's not just a bad hose? I've seen power steering hoses that looked like someone had taken a needle and poked 50 holes in it when it gets under pressure. Had one on my suburban that way...after I loaned it out, of course. If you've not been leaking fluid until lately then it could be the pump, but I'd at least double check it before I spent the cash for a new pump. PS pumps go out sometimes, but they're pretty tough and it doesn't happen that often. Most of your symptoms actually sound like a loose belt, but they could also be caused by a bad pump, so....

If it were mine, and I knew that I needed a new tension pulley anyway, I'd do that first and see if the power steering problem went away. At least you wouldn't be doing something unnecessary to start with.

Sorry I couldn't be more help

 

One more thing...in the interest of saving what cash you can, have you tried spraying a little belt dressing on the serpentine belt to see if it changes the behavior of your power steering? If it does, that'd be a pretty good indicator that your pump is OK and that you just need a new tensioner. A can of belt dressing used to be about 2 bucks, but I haven't bought any in years, hell it could be 50 bucks a can and require a 10 day EPA course, the way things are these days.

 

the system only holds 1 quart or so, and if you already konw that the tensioner is bad that would be the perfect place to start, and then go from there, if you have not run the pump dry chances are it is still good

i am assuming you bled/burped the power steering system if you pulled all the fluid on of it (unless you never emptied the system then disregard that)