98 TACOMA STEERING WHEEL

Hello everyone,

The Steering Wheel of my 98 Tacoma v6 4x4 Ext Cab with 176K Miles is very hard to turn or stiff steering when it's parked or stopped at the Stop Sign or Traffic Light. The Steering Wheel is ok, but it's not normal when the truck runs. I don't see any Steering Fluid leaking. I haven't take the truck to any mechanic to look at it yet. I need your idea, advice, and subjection please to see if I can do it myself. Do you have any idea what's wrong with it?

 

either the PS pump is bad and not putting out pressure or the lines might be restricted but its strange if its not making noise? they almost always get noisy before the stop working right.

clean the screen in the bottom of the PS reservoir and that might fix it

 

Keakar, thank you for your subjection. I'll try to look at it very closely tonight when I get home from work.

One of my friends who owns a glass shop told me it's the Rack and Pinion. What do you think?

 

could be, lets hope not because that's huge $$$$$$$$

keep thinking positive and imagine its something inexpensive is the problem, power of positive thinking and all lol

its a simple process, the PS pump pressurizes the fluid and the pressure assists you to turn the wheels with little to no effort. not enough pressure sound like what happening but the "why" is what you need to find out. if it has pressure and the rack and pinion is binding $$$$$$$ https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/ra...ck[PHP_SESSION_ID]=racvtrhj3l73tajrnteekrs7o1

 

I hope it's not Rack and Pinion because of a huge $$$$$$$$ as you said. I always think it's only a PS Pump. I'll check it out and I'll be back here to let you know.

 

well PS issues are not my forte' so im just passing on the little bit I know about it

 

Keakar, you know what??? I'm one of the stupid and dump people who didn't check their trucks well. I found the problem after your subjections yesterday when I got home from work. It was the Power Steering Fluid only. It was completely empty and I couldn't believe I completely forgot about this. I filled some fluid into the PS Reservoir and then tried to turn on the truck and turn the Steering Wheel left and right and it worked fine. It solved the problem right away.

Without your help, I would take it to the mechanic and I strongly believe I would lose some $$$ for sure. You're a $$$ saver. This is a great lesson for me. Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it.

 

still not sure how it wasn't making noise like crazy, they "usually" whine loudly when you turn the wheel when they run out of fluid.

it shouldn't ever be "out" so you must have a leak somewhere so watch for that. being "completely empty" is a red flag and you may have burned up the PS pump like that so you are very very lucky if all is well

 

Yeah, I think I was so lucky. I couldn't believe it didn't make any noise either. I'll keep checking it from now on.