I posted a few weeks ago about my power steering not working correctly even after I replaced the pump and the rack. I took the truck off-roading a few weeks back and when I pulled back onto the road the power steering worked perfectly. It stayed this way for 4 days but since then it has been the same; not working so well anymore. I can turn the wheel, but it "hangs up" in a few spots either side of center.
Jim, I followed your method of bleeding the steering system. I jacked up the front end and, with the engine off, turned the steering wheel from lock to lock a few times. Things still seemed to get "hung up" in those same spots. This tells me that the problem is obviously in the rack and not in the pump.
It baffles me how the steering would work only partly, then work perfectly for 4 days, then work partly again but get hung up in certain spots. By hung up, I mean that the steering wheel feels like its sticking in those spots and when making a turn, when the wheel gets to one of those sticky spots, it stops returning to center and holds where it is. I would turn in circles if I didn't straighten the wheel myself.
How likely is it that I replaced my defective rack with another defective rack? Could there be debris lodged in the rack? Is there any way to install a filtering device on the low pressure line?
Thanks for the help guys, this one has baffled myself and all of my mechanic buddies.
Here is a link to the previous discussion.