Intermittent power steering

Had an odd occurrence in the CSX-T today. Came to a stop while driving and noticed that the steering wheel became very heavy like there was not any power assist. Took off and after about 30 secs of driving it returned to normal. This cycle repeated itself over about 5 stops, when all of the sudden it returned to normal for the rest of the drive.

My first thought was low on fluid so I pulled over and the reservoir was full, there was never any groaning from the pump that during any of this. My question is would this be the pump going out or maybe an issue with the rack? No fluid leaks from what I can tell and the belt is in good shape.

Thanks
Joey
CSX-T #614

I'd say pump. There are valves in the pump that can stick. They stick you lose power steering.

If you decide on rebuild for pump or rack I would take it to www.adcopower.net on Pinemont.

Nice, thank you for the recommendation. Where in town are you? I am out in Seabrook, not many of us here in Houston.

I just moved to colorado. Was in the woodlands for 29 years. Very few TM'ers in houston. Heck have not seen one in colorado either as of yet.

Hey Joey,
Should you decide to replace pump you have the ZF pump and not the more common Saginaw pump in your car. Note if you replace the high pressure hose, they made two different styles for the ZF pumps. IIRC, you have the early style and not the later style with the banjo bolt. Also IIRC, the pumps are the same, only the high pressure hose and attaching hardware for the hose was a running change. In 88 and 89, Chrysler was using both Saginaw and ZF as vendors. Not any rhyme or reason for what cars got what pumps on the 8v cars from what I can tell. Just one of those weird deals...
Todd

If you decide to go to adco they can make hoses too

Thanks for the info guys, I will most likely go with the rebuild suggestion.

$75 with 1 day turn around to rebuild at Adco, $199 if/when I decide to do the rack. Will get the pump over there asap.

Had both my racks rebuilt there. They look new when you get them back and they do it in a few hours.