loosing power steering fluid
 

I bought my car (2002 base, tip w/ 52,000mi) 1 year ago. quickly noticed steering noise and when checking resvior found it bone dry. put fluid in and 22,000 miles later it was off the stick again. took a couple oz. to fill it. not seeing any drips anywhere but I have notice some dark sticky stuff in the valleys on top of the block. are there any common areas for this to leak between resvoir and pump?

Thanks, Pat

interesting
 

Interesting but I noticed something similar with my car as well. My power steering fluid was low. For me oil on the top of the block was from a lose oil filler tube.

-Steve

.How do you check the power steering fluid? Last night while driving home my car started smoking a little bit, then turned off. When I cranked it back up I noticed it was extremely hard to turn the wheel. And, for some reason my battery and abs light stay lit.

HB, that sounds like your serpentine belt just broke. That belt drives all your accessories including the power steering pump, water pump, alternator, etc. So if it snaps, you lose everything and cannot drive the car until you replace the belt.

Belt replacement:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/05-BASICS-Belt/05-BASICS-Belt.htm

I can drive the car, it's just really hard to turn the wheel. I took it for a test drive today. On my way back home the car got really hot. I pulled off to the side of the road, and noticed coolant was leaking all over the ground just right in front of my passenger side rear wheel. This sucks because I just had my water pump & reservoir replaced just last year.

What I'm trying to do is explain to you that when your belt breaks you can drive the car, but if you do, you will overheat the car since the water pump will not be running anymore, as well as the power steering being lost because that pump is also run off the belt. Do not drive the car until you replace the belt!!!!! Also, your battery will eventually die because the alternator which recharges the battery will not run without the belt.

Oh, ok thanks! That makes sense. I hope that it's just the belt that needs replacing. Is it normal for them to go bad in about a year's time? I had mine replaced last year when the shop replaced my water pump. Would you say hearing a wine sound upon acceleration being a good indication of the belt going bad?

Normally, a new belt can last over 60k miles or 4 yrs (the recommended replacement schedule), but it is possible that one of the rollers that rolls the belt seized or became wobbly. If that happened, the belt might have slowly started to slip off, and when it slips off, it will stop powering all the other rollers which operate your power steering, A/C, alternator, and water pump. If you continue to drive the car, the car can get so overheated that you end up totally ruining your engine and will need a new one, so never continue driving the car next time you feel the loss of power steering and see the car starting to overheat.

Even if you have a brand new water pump in there, the water pump won't run without a belt turning it, and therefore your car will overheat.

Thanks a lot! You were right about the belt. I'm in the process of removing the old belt now. I've run into a bit of a speed bump, about 1 1/2 of the belt is wrapped behind one of the pulleys, and I'm having problems getting it off. I think if I can get a small sharp knife I should be able to cut it loose.

No problem. Note, however, that even if you buy a new belt to put in there (hopefully, you went to the dealer to get the right one), you still have to make sure that all the rollers and pulleys are rolling smoothly and not damaged, because if they are, that new belt will snap shortly after you put everything back and start the engine. If you have a bad pulley or roller, you'd obviously have to get those replaced too. Good luck.