Power steering pump failed

[abomb1]

Well, here's a new one I found out about this weekend.

 

I got about 2 miles down the highway on our way home from some relatives when I heard about 5 seconds of squealing, then it was gone. Nothing felt different, and the Pathfinder was still running fine, so I just figured it might have been some snow on the roof being blown towards the back and off. 15 miles later I had to pull into a gas station for gas, and by the time I was ready to make the turn, I was almost stopped because of waiting for other cars. I couldn't get the front wheels to turn at all from a stop, but once I got moving, it was a little easier. I didn't see any missing belts or anything not turning that should have been turning. The power steering fluid was a little low, but nothing to be concerned about. I topped it off and drove the rest of the 200 mile trip home with no power steering. Today I brought it to a neighbor who owns a repair shop and he found that the pump had failed. This is a $430 part from Nissan and apparently there is a TSB on it that also recommends replacing some other tube along with it.

 

There's nothing you can do to know that it might be going out, so I'm not sure that this will really help anyone else out there, but I hadn't read anything about it on here yet, so thought I would post up.

 

There's another $500 I can't spend on something fun to add to it.

[tmorgan4]

I hope mines not on it's way out. I've felt it get noticably "weaker" since the time I got it. Whenever the cars loaded up with people/gear it's VERY hard to turn, didn't used to be that way. Maybe I'm losing pressure somewhere.

[nick1716]

my buddys yota did too...he just started revvin it up hella to get it to wrk a bit to crank the wheels