Cadillac Repair: 95 fleetwood, fleetwood cadillac, lt1 engine

Question
my steering wheel gets very hard to turn most of the time when I try to back out or make turns, I have power steering fluid in it so I know thats not the problem, also my pass fault key light stays on, and also it starts running hot sometimes, I changed out the thermostat and I dont see any leaks, Do you know what might be causing these problems? its a 1995 fleetwood cadillac with a 350 Lt1 engine.

Answer
Hi Cecilia,

        With your steering system there is a sensor in the back of the p/s pump that changes the assist from full assist at slow speeds to not much assist at highway speeds. You already did the first step to check the fluid level. If this just came about durring very cold weather but seems to be ok as the tempurature get warmer then changing to cold temp. p/s fluid might help. Then the sensor and pump need to be tested to see if they are capable of providing the assist. If you have over 120,000 it could be time to replace the pump and valve or there might be a wireing problem.

     The PASS KEY light comes on because the computor can't read the pellet in the ignition key. You could try your other key and see if it does the same thing. Clean the pellet with some peroxide or rubbing alcohol. If the light still comes on the wireing inside the steering column will need to be tested for breaks while turning the key.

     When running hot a good first step would be to check the coolant level and if ok replace the thermostat. The radiator cap might not be able to hold pressure and need to be replaced. Useing a special pressure tester on the cap and radiator to check for leaks would tell for sure. The protection level needs to be correct. -34 is a common number for freeze point but if the correct concentration is uses the boiling point is also affected. Make sure the cooling fans are turning on at the correct temps. and the temp. comes down. There could be an internal restriction for coolant flow through the radiator. Also if the outside of the condencer or rad. is blocked with anything not enough airflow can get through the fins to cool propperly. The waterpump might not be circulateing the coolant fast enough anymore or you could have the start of a head hasket problem.

    Some things like replaceing the cap and checking the outside of the rad and condenser you could do yourself but you would need to have a shop do the other tests. Bill