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What Should You Do If Your Steering Wheel Is Hard To Turn?
Your car’s power steering system allows you to easily turn your wheel while at slow speeds or stopped. But over time issues with your power steering system can occur which can make your steering wheel hard to turn in either direction. If your steering wheel is hard to turn there are a few things that you can troubleshoot yourself before taking your car to a mechanic to have them diagnose the issue.
So why is your steering wheel hard to turn? If your steering wheel is hard to turn you likely have something wrong with your power steering system. Problems with your power steering system can include low power steering fluid levels, a broken serpentine belt, failing power steering pump, old power steering fluid, or a worn or damaged steering rack.
The cost to fix these problems will vary widely depending on which issue you are facing. Your steering rack may be leaking power steering fluid and need to be replaced or you may just be low on power steering fluid. But how can you troubleshoot each of these issues to determine what is wrong with your car? Keep reading to find out.
1. Low Power Steering Fluid
The power steering system on your car needs power steering fluid to operate. If you have a leak in one of your power steering hoses or power steering rack your power steering fluid level can become low which will make your steering wheel hard to turn.
The simple solution to this problem is to add more power steering fluid to your power steering fluid reservoir. But if you find your car low on power steering fluid you should really try to find out what happened to the power steering fluid and see if you are leaking power steering fluid underneath your car.
2. Failing Power Steering Pump
Modern power steering systems allow you to turn the wheels of your car at low speeds with low effort. But if your power steering pump is failing it can become harder and harder to turn your steering wheel especially at low speeds or at a stop.
If you find that your steering wheel is becoming harder to turn you’d first want to check your power steering fluid levels to make sure they are where they need to be.
After ruling out power steering fluid as a culprit you’d want to investigate your power steering pump to make sure that it’s still operating as it should.
Troubleshooting your power steering pump can’t really be done without special tools designed to get a PSI reading from the power steering system.
If you suspect that there is a problem with your power steering pump I’d take your car to a mechanic to have them look over your power steering pump to determine if there is a problem with it.
3. Worn or Broken Serpentine Belt
Another thing to check if you are having problems turning your steering wheel is the car’s serpentine belt. Most of the accessories in your car including your power steering system are powered by the serpentine belt that is connected to the car’s engine.
The serpentine belt is looped around a series of pullies that are connected a pully on the engine that rotates the serpentine belt and ultimately the pully connected to the power steering pump.
If your serpentine belt is old and cracked or has broken apart this will cause your power steering system to not work at all. So be sure to inspect your serpentine belt to make sure that it’s in good condition and still connected if your steering wheel is hard to turn in either direction.
4. Low Tire Pressure
Low tire pressure can also make your steering wheel hard to turn. Car tires are designed to be inflated to a certain PSI or pounds per square inch. When tires are allowed to deflate or you have a flat tire this can cause your steering rack to work a lot harder to turn the tire in either direction, especially if you are driving slowly or stopped.
To remedy this situation you can visually inspect your tires, if one or multiple tires look low then go ahead and fill them up with more air.
But how do you know what PSI your tires should be inflated to? To learn more about what specific tire pressure your tires should be inflated to check out my other article what should my tire PSI be?
5. Old Power Steering Fluid
Your car’s steering rack is a hydraulic system and uses power steering fluid to allow your power steering rack to turn your wheels from side to side. Over time power steering fluid can break down and will need to be replaced. Clean power steering fluid should be somewhat clear and flow easily.
You can visually inspect your power steering fluid, if it’s dark and thick that’s usually a sign that it needs to be replaced.
The easiest way to ensure that your power steering fluid doesn’t get old and break down is to replace your power steering fluid based on the vehicle manufacturers’ maintenance schedule. That way you ensure that your power steering fluid is replaced on time and doesn’t have the chance to get too old.
If you just bought a car and don’t know when your power steering fluid was last changed you can always drain the current power steering fluid and replace it with new power steering fluid to give you peace of mind. That way you know that your power steering fluid is clean.
6. Steering Rack Is Damaged
Hopefully, you’ve been able to pinpoint your power steering issues at this point and don’t have an issue with your steering rack because if you do need to replace your steering rack it’s not cheap. Replacing a steering rack can cost over $1,000 because of the complexity involved with removing and installing the replacement steering rack.
On some cars, you have to disassemble most of the front end of the car to be able to get access to the steering rack to remove it. You’d then need to also pay to have the new steering rack installed which can take a couple of hours.
But if you take your car to a mechanic and they recommend having your replace your steering rack then that’s something you should look into doing.
Related Questions
Will too much power steering fluid make the steering wheel hard to turn? Adding too much power fluid to your power steering system shouldn’t make your steering wheel hard to turn but it could have adverse effects on your power steering pump.
Since your pump has to pump the power steering fluid throughout the steering rack overfilling the power steering fluid reservoir can cause the power steering pump to work overtime.
You should always note the high and low indicators on the power steering reservoir and keep your power steering fluids levels within that range.
When I turn my steering wheel full lock it makes a noise? If you are hearing noises when your car is turned at full lock usually this is a sign that you have something wrong with the suspension of your car.
Usually, if there is something wrong with your power steering system like your power steering pump you would hear noises as you are turning the wheel and not at full lock.
How do I lock my steering wheel? What if you wanted to lock your steering wheel to help prevent your car from getting stolen? Well, most cars will lock the steering wheel if the car key is not in the steering column by turning the wheel in either direction.
You should hear a click, at that point your steering wheel won’t be able to be moved back and forth without then inserting your key into the steering column and turning it, doing so should unlock the steering wheel.
Another way you can lock your steering wheel is by purchasing a steering wheel lock that you would attach to your steering wheel to help prevent thieves from stealing your car.
