My sister's 850 began to steer hard. It was leaking a lot of fluid around the p/s pump shaft. I loosened the hose that goes down to the rack and blew throught it, so I know it's not plugged. I replaced the pump with a salvaged unit, but it doesn't seem to have fixed the problem. I started the car, and the pump began making a funny noise. The steering moves pretty easily, but doesn't feel quite right. I couldn't really see the fluid moving in the reservoir, but it was getting really foamy. When I shut off the car, foam overflowed out of the reservoir. I think the rack may be bad. Can anyone help me? I'm scared to start it agian, because I'm afraid I'll damage the pump.

 

Unless it is leaking from the same place again you need to bleed it. Start the engine and run it lock to lock several times and the noise should abate and the foam should clear. Hopefully you didn't use power steering fluid instead of ATF. Mixing the two has turned into a foamy mess in my old Jeep. If you did mix the two products someone has a turkey baster that is about to bit the dust. Suck everything out of the pump reservoir and refill with ATF. Run lock to lock a few times and suck it out and refill again. It takes several iterations to flush the system.

...Lee

..Lee