Hey Guy's,

I am glad i found this forum. I just came home from a 2h drive, 10 clicks from my home, my power steering just stopped working. No noise no nothing just stopped. I still have my power brakes. Can't see a leak, (dark outside), now i will go outside and will check the fluid level. It is a 2004 Ram 1500 Hemi.
Any ideas what i can do now?

EDIT: power steering fluid leve is perfect. Well it is -32C, maybe this is the problem?!

 

its wierd that it would happend after you are already driving, I have had that happen once when I came out of work and it was like -15 and I let the truck run for about 30 seconds then I went to pull out of the parking spot and had NO power steering for about 10 seconds, I think some of the fluid froze.


Thats my guess

 

...well before i started the trip, i did try to give my buddy's F-150 a boost. And before my P/S stopped working i had to make a right turn at a intersection and it was icy right there and i spun out just a little bit. I straighten it out and a second after this, no more P/S.

 

I just had that problem on my 04 hemi as well, if its not making any noise than i would have to say that your steering rack is gone or going out. I have had several problems with the power steering system on my truck, last year the power steering pump went out, and three days ago i replaced my steering rack. If you decide to go with a rack dont go with a mopar rack, its $724 not including labor, i went aftermarket and got one for $204 and did it myself.

 

Not buying the freezing thing given you had the truck running for over an hour when it occured.

I would just bet a bad pump, PS pumps in the Ram is one of those "things" that are not that good. I rate it up there with the differential.

 

Ohman, I'm such an idiot, I checked the level for the tranny last night. NOT for the PS. Stupid me, the reservoir for the PS is empty, I can even see the mesh in there. That is my first pick-up truck in my life, and i got it since October. And i am original from Germany. So i have not much expirience with trucks.

BUT my understanding is, if the fluid is down, the PS pump makes noise, but mine never did. Is it dead now and do I have to replace it? I read something about bad hoseing too, should i replace all hoses aswell? And something about the pump too, is it too weak? So what brand hoses and pump i should get if the pump is bad now? Or would refill the fluid help? Sry for so many questions.

 

You have nothing to lose, just a few bucks in fluid. You might get lucky, but I would NOT start the truck again until you top off the PS fluid.

 

I just had this problem but a little different mine was making a noise and it turned out i was almost on empty and it was due to 2 leaky hoses for the power steering lucky i got it in quick because it saved me getting a new pump get thee hoses checkd for sure they are a lot cheaper to replace

 

i hate the powersteering on our trucks ahhh my bleeds the stuff