1996 Pontiac Grand Am Steering locks up on cool mornings

BLUFFHUNTER

MEMBER
1996 PONTIAC GRAND AM
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
180,000 MILES

My 1996 Grand am is starting to do this again on cooler mornings. I had a new rack put on two weeks ago. I guess I will try a new powering steering pump next. I think mine is the pump without variable assist. I can't figure out why it does this. You cant even turn it. It's as if it's locked up, but step on the accelerator pedal real quickly and it will usually unlock it. I can't imagine it being anything else besides the pump, unless the new rack was defective.
This pump runs off the cam shaft.
Any ideas what would make this happen?

3 Replies

MMPRINCE4000

MECHANIC
8,548 POSTS

Could be the steering wheel lock, where if key is removed wheel locks, especially if it happened before the new rack was put on.

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Friday, October 29th, 2010 AT 5:59 AM

BLUFFHUNTER

MEMBER
14 POSTS

I think I have solved the problem. My car has variable assist steering, which I have heard is a little rare, most of them just have a normal power steering pump. I actually found a used pump out of a salvage yard, so I tried it just to see if that might be the problem. The temperature has been in the low 30's this week and it has not been locked up in the mornings so far. A new normal power steering pump is aprox. $ 70.00, but the one with variable assist is anywhere from $ 150.00 to 250.00. The variable assist pump will have a wiring connector on the bottom of the pump. I hope this information might help someone else that has encountered the problem of the steering locked up on cold mornings. I will try to insert a pic of the pump, but don't know if I can do it or not. Thank you !