What to Do When Power Steering Goes Out

When your power steering goes out, you do not lose steering. You lose the assist that makes steering easy, so the wheel suddenly takes real physical effort to turn. The right move is to keep both hands on the wheel, hold your lane, ease off the accelerator without braking hard, and steer firmly to the shoulder or the nearest safe place to stop. Do not let go of the wheel and do not panic. The car still goes where you point it; it just fights you now.

What It Feels Like The Moment It Fails

Most drivers describe it as the wheel going stiff or heavy all at once. At highway speed you may barely notice at first, because at speed very little assist is needed. The moment you slow down for an exit ramp or try to turn into a parking lot, the effort jumps.

Depending on the cause, you may also hear a whine or groan from under the hood, see a warning light on the dash, or hear a loud squeal followed by other warning lights coming on together. Sometimes the wheel is heavy in one direction more than the other.

How To Keep Control And Get Off The Road

This is the part worth remembering before it ever happens.

• Both hands on the wheel. Grip firmly. You will need more force than usual, and steering from one hand at the top of the wheel will not give you enough leverage.
• Do not slam the brakes. Hard braking upsets the car right when your steering is already difficult. Lift off the throttle and let the car slow itself.
• Make gradual steering inputs. Plan a wide, smooth path to the shoulder instead of a sharp move.
• Signal and get fully off the road. Hazards on once you are stopped.
• Do not try to muscle through a tight turn at speed. Slow first, then turn.

Steering effort goes up dramatically as speed goes down, so the hardest moment is parking, not driving. That is worth knowing if you are deciding whether to move the car at all.

Low Or Leaking Power Steering Fluid

On a hydraulic system, this is the most common cause. The system is sealed, so if fluid is low, it is leaking. Common leak points are the pressure hose, the pump shaft seal, and the rack seals. As the level drops, the pump pulls in air and you get a groaning noise and assist that fades, especially at low speed and full lock.

Winter is hard on these parts here. Road salt corrodes steel lines and fittings, and cold thickens the fluid so a marginal pump has to work harder on the first start of a cold morning.

A Failing Power Steering Pump

The pump is belt-driven off the engine. When the internal vanes or the shaft bearing wear out, output pressure drops. The usual progression is a whine that gets louder with steering effort, then assist that is weak at idle and better at higher RPM, then failure. A pump can also seize, which will shred or throw the belt.

A Snapped Serpentine Belt

One belt drives the accessories on most engines, and on many of them the power steering pump and the alternator are both on it. On a lot of vehicles the water pump is too.

This is the case where you should not keep driving. If the belt broke, you are likely also running without the alternator, which means the car is on battery power alone and will die within a few miles. If the water pump is on that belt, the engine will overheat quickly. The usual signs are a loud squeal or bang, then the battery light and often the temperature gauge climbing, all at once with the heavy steering. Pull over, shut it off, and get it towed.

Electric Power Steering Faults

Many newer vehicles use an electric motor on the column or the rack instead of a pump, and have no fluid to check. When these fail, assist usually cuts out completely and a steering warning light comes on.

Common causes are a blown fuse, a failed torque or steering angle sensor, a bad connection at the motor, a fault in the control module, or low system voltage from a weak battery or charging system. On some vehicles, the assist will come back after a restart if the fault was temporary, but the underlying cause is still there and needs to be diagnosed with a scan tool.

When Power Steering Goes In And Out

Intermittent assist that comes and goes is a real symptom, not your imagination. On a hydraulic system it usually means low fluid, air in the system, or a pump on its way out. It often shows up at low RPM, at full lock, or on the first cold start.

On an electric system, assist that drops out and returns usually points to an intermittent electrical fault or low voltage, and it often leaves a stored code even after the light goes off.

Intermittent failures do not fix themselves. They are a warning that a total failure is coming, and it may arrive in a parking lot or on Highway 55.

When To Get It Looked At

• Tow it, do not drive it: a broken serpentine belt, heavy steering with the battery light or temperature gauge up, or a complete loss of assist you cannot explain.
• Get in right away: assist that comes and goes, a whine that has been growing, or fluid that keeps dropping.
• Check first: if it is a hydraulic system, look at the fluid level cold before anything else.

If your power steering went out or has been fading, we can find the leak, test the pump, or scan the electric system and tell you what it needs. Stellar Autoworks is in Plymouth and serves the west metro, with a 24-month/24,000-mile warranty on qualifying repairs. schedule service or have it towed to us.