heavy steering

[christover1]

My Vitara steering has been slowly getting heavier,
and now acts like normal steering,
I have to move forward to turn it, especialy when in 4wd.
Can't find any leaks, or loose belts.
Pulley seems to spin fine on the pump.
Could it just need a change of fluid?
No idea how old it is.
Or do I need to start looking at box or something else?
cheers
christover

[gwagensteve]

"old" fluid won't cause this. Check the fluid level. I recall on Ellis noticing quite a lot of fluid around the power steering reservoir.

The problem might well be the pump - if it's worn it won't generate pressure and you'll get no assistance, but make sure there's plenty of fluid in the system first, and with the car idling see if you can hear the engine loading up when you try and steer the wheels. If the fluid level dropped too low you might have chewed up the pump though.

PS your wheel alignment issues won't be helping - you're putting a fair bit more load on the steering than it was intended for.

Steve.

[christover1]

Plenty of fluid in it, possibly too much, I keep regular checks on that.
Its always been leaking a bit out the top of reservoir, so I keep checking.

Moreys power steering conditioner fixed frogs ps issues,
was supposed to be a temporary fix,
but it was so good I never changed anything.

Probly should have kept frogs ps as a spare

It is not picking up revs when turning at idle, as it used to.
The wire on pump still seems to be in place.
Not looked too closely at that yet.

[christover1]

Went out for another play with steering,
and it was working fine.
It may just be getting to hot.
It was parked for about an hour and a half.
Will have another look when I get chance.