Did I kill my power steering?

[somick]

2010 Forester with 90000 miles.

 

About 3000 miles ago I changed the power steering fluid with the Dexron III.  Everything was fine but recently it developed a problem: when the motor is cold the power steering starts binding.  To avoid binding I put the transmission in neutral, raise the RPMs a little and the problem goes away.  I do not experience any problems with the warm engine.

 

YouTube search shows that I probably have sticking valves in the power steering rack and recommends Seafoam TransTune. 

Has anybody used it? 

Will it help?

And the main question: did I cause it?

 

I am looking for some help/suggestion,

Sam

[1 Lucky Texan]

no experience with models this new, but both my soobs began sucking air into the fluid - visible bubbles/foaming in the reservoir. They both whined, the WRX had 'pulsing' vibration in steering wheel.

[somick]

14 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

no experience with models this new, but both my soobs began sucking air into the fluid - visible bubbles/foaming in the reservoir. They both whined, the WRX had 'pulsing' vibration in steering wheel.

Thanks Texan!

 

Have you found the point where the air was entering the system?

[1 Lucky Texan]

o-ring (s) on the suction hose adapter on top of the pump.

[somick]

18 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said:

o-ring (s) on the suction hose adapter on top of the pump.

Thanks!

 

I will check it out this weekend.

[somick]

Update.

 

While checking everything out I also checked the belt that I installed about 5K miles ago.  It looked fine but I decided that a little more tension will not hurt.

 

That fixed everything.  Apparently it slipped a little with the engine cold.  Now everything is back to normal.  My thanks go to @1 Lucky Texan for the idea of checking the hoses, etc.