Our Sedona started to become stiff when driving.

02SEDONAEX

MEMBER
2002 KIA SEDONA
151,000 MILES

Our Sedona started to become stiff when driving first thing in the morning. It felt as if it became manual steering, you wpuld hear a high pitch noise when turn(belt squealing.) After It was warmed up it drove fine, other then here and there, backing up you would sometimes feel the car shattering as if the pump or something wasn't working. Then a few times when turning you would feel like you lost power steering and had to turn it hard.

Long story short, auto shop said it was the power steering pump. So we just replaced the pump and both belts. Now it seems even worse, even when letting it warm it doesn't seem like it helps. The wheel doesn't turn back to the center after turns you have to turn the wheel stright again. Also now you hear a really high pitched squealing sound when ever you turn the wheel hard left or hard(by hard I mean fully to the left or right.)

What's wrong? Is the new pump bad? Belt to tight? Not tight enough? Someone said there is air in the system?

2 Replies

SEDONAOWNER

MEMBER
1 POST

Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the power steering pump.

I had the same problem. There is a universal joint that attaches from the steering column to the steering rack. The joint is known for seizing up. There are two remedies:

1. Temporary measure - look under the hood and trace the steering armature coming from inside the car to the universal joint. Squirt some WD40 on the joint while someone is turning the steering wheel. Its a bear to find - you can get to it easier from the bottom of the car, but I've done it from the top with a lot of light and some luck. Its gotten me through until I can change the joint.

2. More permanent measure is to have the joint replaced. Its not cheap, you will wind up paying a lot in labor, but this should solve your problem.

The reason it sounded so bad and felt like it was shuddering was that the pump was trying to turn against something that didn't want to turn. Mine did the exact same thing and the shop quoted me a power steering pump - which I avoided due to the cost, and now I'm glad I did. It didn't need it.