I Noticed power steering failure today while driving home, also noticed my windows were fogging up (car is warm and heat up all the way) only cold air coming from the vents. I continue driving, car seems to be running fine, steering a bit rough, windows foggy, but nothing too urgent, so I thought and now hope! THEN, closer to my house (about 8-10 miles later) I notice my temperature gauge starting to climb, then it went back down to the half way point where it's always at. At one point it was close to the red zone, but dropped quickly.... very strange!

So I park in my driveway, shut her down, smoke is pouring from under the hood. Opened it up and it looked like an explosion of fluids! Underside of engine cover is soaked, drops and drips of fluids throughout nearly the entire engine compartment. Fresh fluid spots on nuts, screws, clamps, hoses, etc. WTH HAPPENED?? I dont even know where to begin! Advice, suggestions? ANYONE?

 

I am NOT V8 super knowledgeable, but here goes.

A power steer hose, more than likely the return hose (as versus a high pressure hose) has burst, or split badly. This explains the weird steering, and the Red fluid.

This fluid has gotten on the serpentine belt, causing it to slip, thus adding to the weird steering, then causing the lack of heat, water pump is not rotating as designed, temp rises, belt gets some grip, temp lowers.

The Green fluid is coolant, and has probably come from the header tank via the cap.

Hope this helps until another genius arrives and offers other suggestions.

 

+1 on Grants observations. Should be a straight forward fix once you have identified the hose to replace.

Good luck.

 

Great approach Grant. Thats where I would start.

 

Nice sleuthing Grant!

 

That makes sense, sounds logical, thank you. I will look into that and post my findings. Something I forgot to mention in the original post, which may be helpful, is that for about a month or so now I’ve noticed a bit of a squeaking that occurs when the gas pedal is ‘slightly’ pressed, it was intermittent at all speeds, I thought it was perhaps the cold weather.

The cabin heat has always been, in my opinion, lacking! Yesterday (original post) I had NO HEAT! On a typical day it gets warm, but never HOT, even the heated seats take over 30 minutes of driving before you feel them. Is that pretty normal for these cars?

 

No, to all your observations. I have to turn my seats down or off after just a few minutes of use. Too warm. Cabin temperature goes to what ever I've selected within a short period of time even at -30*C outside temps.

 

Do some reading here. Your problems are dead common. Have you replaced the DCCV?
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I suppose I have a later car but the heat is way too hot on full, really HOT, so sounds like a problem if not like that.

 

Anybody by chance have a diagram of the ps system?

 

if you download jtis, everything you need should be in it.

But here it is

 

Also the coolant should be orange not green.

 

So after further review, problem solved. It turns out the water pump failed causing coolant to leak out of the pulley, which explains the squeaking I had noticed previously and the mess throughout the engine afterwards. The fluid also dripped all over the serpentine belt causing the power steering and other components to act up.

I went ahead and replaced the water pump, thermostat, coolant temperature sensor and serpentine belt. Flushed the system and filled with Orange Dex Cool. The car runs perfect again, except now I have no heat! I thought it was due to the air pockets, but it was eventually diagnosed as the aux water pump. Getting all the air pockets out is/was a pain in the ***! I ended up taking it in to the shop and having the air vacuumed out!

Once the new pump shows up I will replace and hope that fixes my heat, if not I will be moving on to the DCCV. I hope the Diagnosis is correct! I know that the DCCV is a common failure on these cars. We shall see!

 

Very good find.

Thanks for posting back, its what keeps the archives churning over for everyone.

 

Just a quick update:

My journey is complete, and what a journey it was!! After replacing the aux water pump, I still had NO heat. Onto the notorious DCCV (Heater Control Valve), now my heat works!

I think it had failed before I even bought the car, as I said in a previous post; my heat has always been lukewarm. Now it’s like a sauna in there, I love it!!

Since my original issue on December 14th all of the following has been completed/replaced:

· Water Pump
· Aux Water Pump
· Thermostat
· Coolant Temperature Sensor
· Water Distribution Pipe
· System flush and fill (Orange Dex-Cool)
· Serpentine Belt
· DCCV (Heater Control Valve)
· Cabin Air Filter (it was the blackest filter I’ve ever seen)
· Front rotors & pads (they were due)

Car runs beautifully and the heater blows HOT. It took me some time to complete this work, but I’m no mechanic. I’ve never in my life done this much work on a car. I’m getting better though, and the work is getting easier. So for those of you who aren’t so knowledgeable when it comes to working on cars….. YOU can do it! It might take some time, but be patient and do it right. You will be proud when it’s done!

 

Good one.

Glad you are happy.

 

WTG and congrats on your new DIY skills.

Enjoy the ride.