2001 buick regal. 3800. auto. LS. white.

so today while working on getting the semis started i was coming through the snow covered parking lot in my buick with some new electric cords and when i went to turn around i heard something whine about 1 second then my steering just basically locked up. i can turn the wheel but its really really difficult to turn. i took the front wheels off and cleaned all the snow/ice thinking that by some stroke of luck that would solve it but it didnt.

my power steering isnt whining and i didnt see any noticeable fluid. ill be honest i havent checked the fluid because its an absolute bitch to get to the PS pump and dipstick.

i did notice that my driver side axle, the piece that goes into the transmission moves up and down when you put the pry bar on it and lift. could the axle somehow be making it hard to turn for some reason? usually power steering pump whines and stuff if they are out of fluid or going bad so im trying to think if something else may be wrong.

the axle isnt broke you can turn it at the hub and it stops like an automatic does. theres nothing noticeably broke.

This post was edited by JDH on Feb 17 2015 03:56pm

Just taking an educated guess here, but id suspect either the spool valve in the rack, or the shaft sheered on the pump.

easiest way to tell if the shaft sheared is to pull the belt off the ps pump and see if the pully moves in/out on it. If it does, that is your problem.

edit, obviously if that is the problem, you need an entire new pump.

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Feb 17 2015 04:02pm

im kind of hoping it wasnt the pump because its a bitch to get to but better it than the rack probably. i know i still need to change the axle too i was kind of hoping for fools luck that it might have something to do with it.

if the shaft sheers off though the pulley stays in place and stuff? like it would appear to be running fine looking at it from the top.

no help but

my mom owns a 2001 buick regal. 3800. auto. LS. white. as well

she bought it with like 80k miles back in 06
been such a great car, well over 300k miles on original motor and trans, no major repairs, just shit like valve cover gasket, door window motors, water pump etc

looks like complete dog shit now cause she does zero to keep it nice
think its been washed like twice lol

my dad drove it today in the snow, water pump went out again but its 27$ shipping included so nb

again sry for usless post

yes, and it wont make a noise either most of the time.

just pop the serpentine off quick and try moving the pully. Should only take 5 minutes to find out of the pump sheared.

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Feb 17 2015 05:46pm

ill fuck with it after work tomorrow. we were busy trying to get the trucks running today and its late now. had to bring a generator up and 3 extension cords. brand new block heater in my truck worked like a champ and i plugged my fuel heater in too. our shop bought small bags of charcoal to burn under some of the trucks at the yard to get them warmed up enough to start.

May seem dumb. But your serpentine belt is still there right? By the sounds of it you didn't drive it enough after the power steering loss to notice over heating or drain the battery. And that's it is infact turning .

This post was edited by IB0T on Feb 18 2015 11:10am

yeah its still there. first thing i done after the steering basically locked up was to check the belt. ive already taken both front wheels off yesterday and cleaned the snow/ice from the wheel wells and checked to see if there was anything else maybe visibly broken or something.

you fix this shit yet?

lol

no been out in the semi past 2 days just got home. drove it over to mom and dads and pulled it into the garage and shut it up for the night. have to leave at 10 tonight and theyre calling for 4-8 inches of snow with up to 1/2 inch of ice on top of the 15 or so inches of snow we just got. plus -25 degree weather. this week can take a flying leap and go fuck it self.

on the other hand im driving the wifes equinox and the seat warmers keep my ass nice and toasty on the way to the truck. the semi finally got a few hour shutdown time today its been running since tuesday because of the cold.