The event: Turned the wheel all the way to turn into a parking spot. When I put it in reverse to straighten out, it suddenly was extremely difficult to turn the wheel.

The symptoms:

-Difficult to turn the wheel in either direction.
-Becomes easier to turn the wheel when moving, but still difficult.
-The further you need to turn the wheel, the more resistance is felt.
-Brief under the car visual inspection of the steering rack showed no obvious signs of wear
-All other suspension components look to be intact

Question: Is it likely the PS Pump or the steering rack that failed?

Thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

Any noise coming from the pump?and also how does the ps fluid look?

The supercharger gears and pulley hosing are too loud to hear the pump, so I don't know. Fluid levels are fine.

Actually now that I think about it, when you turn the wheel all the way you can usually hear the pump, I cannot.

I'd check the pump. I bet its just worn and not making the pressure it should

I agree. Thanks for your input guys. Figured I'd get some opinions before I delved into it. Gonna see if I can get a pump cheap from the junkyard and then swap it in some time this week.

There was also a rack and pinion recall on a lot of these cars. Although the symptom wasn't "hard to turn" but "unable to turn."


2.2 97 Cavalier......the "Crapalier"

Finally got a new pump in. It was the pump. All is good now. Thanks for your input guys.