Power Steering going out

CHEFREZARDEE

MEMBER
2009 KIA SPECTRA
145,000 MILES

One night I was driving back from work when I was on a dirt road. I had to swerve a little to move over for another car and hit a puddle going 20mph and water had splashed up. Not sure if thats relevant but right after my car made a bubbling/boiling sound (or like wet sand was being kicked up from my tires and hitting the car) and it was hard to turn sharply. It was dark and I couldn't check it until morning but I noticed that my power steering was way below minimum but not completely empty. My brother took a look at it, added some more fluid and took it for a short drive and noticed it was gushing PS fluid. He drove it up on some ramps and he another person thought it could be the rack and pinion. I have been told by other people that maybe it's just the power steering pump or the power steering hose blew off. What could it possibly be?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,910 POSTS

A puddle isn't going to hurt the power steering pump and it is unlikely to damage any other parts in the power steering system. I don't know how much the guys who were looking at your car know about cars but the first thing to look at is the belt. If you turn the steering system repeatedly with the power steering pump not running it is common for the fluid to overflow out of the reservoir. That will make a huge mess but reinstalling the belt and adding fluid will solve that.

If a hose is torn or ruptured you should be able to see that while running the engine and inspecting those parts.