RACK or PUMP ?

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 27 Apr 2020, 11:28

have a 94 850 that I am bringing back to life- I RN swapped it along with the RN steering pump and it was fine until this year when I started driving it, at low speeds the steering is hard- I hope it's the pump as I hate changing racks- any hints as to how to diagnose

Post by **scot850** » 27 Apr 2020, 16:33

Good to see you are still out there fixing Volvos!

Might be worth jacking the front off the ground. Put the ignition key in to I and see if you can move the front wheels when gripped at 3 and 9 o'clock. If you can't easily move then then it is probably the rack, as you should be able to move them fairly easily even without the engine running. Then carefully start the engine and see if the steering is still stiff with the wheels off the ground.

My brother had a similar issue with the 97 that went to California. In his case it was the power steering pump. Luckily for him I had a spare in the spares pile I sent with the car.

Good Luck!

Neil.