Front suspension/lost power steering

CARLEDMUNDS

MEMBER
2005 CHEVROLET IMPALA
3.4L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
250,000 MILES

I was involved in an accident in which unfortunately the driver was uninsured and I am
left stuck doing the repairs myself. The impact was not very hard it did not engage the airbags. I have replaced the driver (all damage on driver front and parts replaced were on the driver side only) lower control arm, tie rods, ball joints, strut and spring assembly. I have not had it aligned yet, but it does not pull or drift when I take my hand off the wheel. It still makes a little scrape noise when making hard turns or hitting a bump. Originally it was fine other than the scrape noise but the other day I lost all power steering. There is no leaks from what I can tell and it is not loosing fluid. Is it possible there is still damage on the passenger side? Or is it the racket pinon? The sway bar and the racket pinon are the only thing that has not been replaced in relation to the driver side. Any help or advice in this mater is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Guy wishing Heaven had visiting hours because my pops would be able to tell me.

1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,443 POSTS

If it hit hard enough to bend those parts it very easily could have damaged the rack. Especially if you tried to turn away from the impact and the wheel was turned. The scraping noise should be easy to find by looking for any contact marks. If nothing shows up real well you can use an old trick. Mist the areas that look suspicious with spray on foot powder or spray a bit of water and then baby powder and look for the spots that rub off.

On the rack the impact likely damaged the internal valving. If the pressure spike was high enough it may have damaged the pump as well.
I would also have a dealer level scan tool used to verify that there is not any issues with the speed sensors, ABS or that none of the airbag related items actually have a code stored.