neespapa
5/19/2008 10:55:36 PM
My wife parked the van one evening and everything was fine. It sat a day or two and when she started it to go out, no power steering. No idiot lights so the belt was okay, she moved the wheel and the tires tried to move like they should (wasn't the steering lock not disengaging), she shut it off and restarted-nothing. When I got home, I saw the same symptoms only, I reved the engine. It made a loud and sudden power steering 'howl' and then started working. I did some research and decided to change the pump (what a pain!). Seems to work fine now but there is a slightly audible stereotypical power steering 'whine'. I heard this same 'whine' on a '97 Express I had. On the Express, the pump eventually went bad and the dealer said it was an 'oriface valve' for the variable speed steering that caused the pump to fail. Since the symptoms are so similar, I'm wondering what component varies the pressure with speed on the Astro? Is it in the pump? Is it the solenoid on the side of the brake booster? Something in the brake booster? I can't find anything referencing it on the internet and the dealer is less than helpful. I want to get this fixed as I don't want my wife to end up stranded somewhere. Thanks in advance!
