no more power steering

[unknownroad]

Originally Posted by fasternyou929

Depends how long it's been leaking, but that's the best place to start. Whenever it was filled, it should have been filled above the lower-limit.

Yup. If to your knowledge it hasn't been checked in the previous 100k miles, most likely it's a fairly trivial leak.

However, *in general* the power steering should still behave normally if you're at the lower limit. The symptoms made me assume it had run very low. What sort of weird noise did it make when the problem started?

If you're sitting in the car, parked, with the engine on, and turn the wheel from lock-to-lock, do you hear a squealing like the belt is slipping? A noise almost like a moan? A clunking?

Is the thumping rhythmic, in sync with the engine, or does it change depending on how quickly you turn the wheel? You could have a problem in your front suspension, with the P/S problem being a symptom rather than a cause.