Well just a few minutes ago I got in my 98 malibu to go to work, i started the car and heard a pop, i drove 10 feet and when i went to turn it felt like my steering wheel was 200lbs.
i go out of my car and there was a puddle of brown liquid that I assume is power steering fluid where my car was and dripping off the bottom of the car.
so do you think it was the steering rods?
how much do you think this will cost to repair? (I really don’t have the time to do the work myself right now)
Sounds like a hose if it made a popping sound. It could also be a hard steel line that had rusted through. You’d have to get it checked out to know exactly how much it’s going to cost.
If you bring it to a Mister Transmission or a place like that, they do free estimates.
heres a bad question.
could i still drive the car? is it just like driving without power steering?
you probably blew a line look in your resivour if its dry then take off your pump line so it doesn`t burn your motor out then you can drive until you have time or money to look at it. it could just be a line leaking or could be pump gone
Most likely the return hose failed, it happens all the time. The crimped section between the hard line and the rubber line fails, and it either leaks power steering fluid, or blows apart and all pisses out. You can drive like that, with no power steering, but you will quickly burn out the power steering pump. Usually you can just repair the line, shouldn’t cost more than 100ish at a typical garage.
if its the same model im thinking of, theres the high and low pressure lines that run from the pump/resevoir down behind the motor and to the rack, verrryyyy common to leak… that is if its the same models im thinking of
well i got under the car today to examine what had happened and it looks like a hard line has broken off of the steering rack.
I have taken some pics as a better reference:
you can see the clean end of the hard line where it has popped out.
yaa it was cold:
thanks for the help guys.
you can still drive this, just take the belt off the powersteering pump…unless this is serpentine belt, then your sol…i mean you can still drive it but your powersteering system is going to take a shit.
get it fixed. I dont know what it would cost. but fixxx it.
if its a 2.4 the powersteering pump is driven off the camshaft.
got it fixed, only 50 stones
thanks guys
