2000 Dodge Caravan

JEFF188596

MEMBER
2000 DODGE CARAVAN

2000 dodge caravan While driving, left turns became hard to make. Power assist failed, although still worked in right turns. We followed the instruction for flushing and bleeding the power steering system. Some debris (black thin plastic substance came out with the fliud. About the size of a dime for the largest pieces) was ithe fliud. We got the system working again and it seemed fine. We drove it a few miles making many turns. When we got back, we tried one more test, turning while stopped with our foot on the brake. We immeadiately lost power assist. Anyone know why?

Monday, April 11th, 2011 AT 10:19 PM

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,330 POSTS

When it only affects one direction, it is caused by internal leakage in the spool valve of the rack and pinion assembly. GM had a really huge problem with that in their late '80s to early '90s front-wheel-drive cars. Their cobble-job repair was intended to get the car out of the 50,000 mile warranty so the customer would have to pay for the proper repair. Chrysler has had much less trouble than GM but this can still happen to any brand of car.

The proper repair is to replace the rack assembly. The name brand companies developed a modification in response to the GM problem and that is incorporated into all of their racks now.

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Monday, April 11th, 2011 AT 10:39 PM