All of a sudden yesterday it became extremely difficult to turn my steering wheel when I was moving slowly or stopped. When I'm moving at driving speeds it seems fine and sometimes right when I start the car it turns fine.

I filled my power steering fluid which was a little low but it didn't resolve the problem. Does anyone have an idea? My car is under warranty but I have to drive 45 minutes each way to get to my nearest dealer and really would rather avoid doing that if there's something I can try myself.

 

it has to be a p/s issue. how does the belt look/feel. if its glazed,loose, or possibly got wet, that could be the reason. its possible that your p/s pump just took a dump. highly unlikely that the rack failed. any leaks?

 

I thought it would be power steering too but there's no leaks, the belt doesn't look like it's slipping (I'll feel it tonight to see if it feels worn or glazed at all), and steering seems 100% normal when I'm driving around anywhere above 15-20mph. If it was the pump wouldn't it give me problems at all speeds?

 

no, it wouldnt. haeve you ever driven a manual steering vehicle? they have that symptom...low speeds> hard to turn, once youre up to speed> you dont even notice its manual steering

 

It looks like my belt is a quite frayed around the edges but I'm not sure how to tell if the actual surface is not right. I did hear some squealing recently and I'm thinking that maybe the belt is just loose. I read up the procedure to replace the belt but I'd like to try just tightening it if that's something that can be done without taking off the bottom engine cover. Can anyone tell me how to tighten this belt?

 

can you take pic on what your talking about?