So, My brother dropped off his girlfreinds 99 Dak v6 2wd auto 199,105 miles yesterday-you may see where this is going already. Badly neglected truck, it was down over 2 qts oil when I checked. It has fluid in the ps resivoir, but has almost nil for ps. It wanders like it is in a good crosswind, but, with no wind, tie rods are good, the only thing I can find wrong is slight play in the right front wheelbearing. Much less wheelbearing play than I had in my 05 Ram, the wheel was almost falling off, and I didn't even notice that until I had it up on stands for an OC. There are no leaks I can find anywhere, and the PS pump does make the normal hydraulic noise when you turn it lock to lock, and hold it there. Can the rack fail internally, keep enough fluid in the PS resivoir to show full, and not leak out anywhere? I have never had this kind of problem with any vehicle I have owned. Got rid of my 00 Dak at 91,000 miles because it was too small, so I don't know how they wear with age. Even my Neon that has 255,000 on it doesn't have steering anywhere near this bad, and I have never flushed the fluid out either.

 

No one?

 

your not the only one at the moment, i recently put some reindexed keys in the front and my steering is all weird gets loose then tight and all kinds of weird stuff. i was told it could be rack and pinion.