Ford: 2001 Taurus power steering boost amount., psi test, volvo s 80

Question
My neighbor, a 74 year old widow, just bought a used 2001 Taurus with 59,000 miles from the local Ford dealer.  After having the car for a weekend she came to me and wanted me to tell her if something was wrong with the power steering.  She said it was too hard to turn.  I had her sit in my 98 Crown Victoria (only 26,000 miles) and try it.  She said it was much easier to turn.  I walked over to her house and tried the Taurus.  It was almost like not having any power steering.  The noise you normally hear when you hit the stops and the relief valve opens was there all the time from the time you applied pressure to the wheel.  I told her to take it back to the saleman and ask him if there is anything that could be done about it.  Here in Georgia there is no warranty on a used car.
The salesman told her all Taurus were that way.
I had the factory shop manual for the 1970 Chevrolet and 1979 Pontiac that I bought new and I remembered a test proceedure in these manuals where you taped a pull scale to the top of the steering wheel and measured pull it took to start the wheel moving.  I googled the groups and found one hit where a 1996 Taurus was loosing all boost due to a bad TR sensor. She is not getting any Check Engine lights.  My question: Is there a test proceedure to tell if the boost is correct on this car and what is it.  Is this boost adjustable? (I found out Volvo S-80 boost is controled by the computer.)
Thanks in advance
Van Gardner

Answer
Van you can do a p/s psi test but you have to have a gauge to do so at idle you  should have 400 to 900. at stop to stop you should have 1200 to 1600 psi. or remove the p/s cap look inside to see if you see the fluid moving if it is moving good then more then likely the rack is the problem .