I have recently noticed that when I am idling, 600RPM or lower, it's very, very hard to turn my steering wheel. However, if I put the car in park and its at 600RPM and I give it some gas, they steering wheel turns perfectly. Any ideas why? I'm baffled.

 

There is a thread on here about a bunch of our power steering pumps going out, me included. So if yours is going out, it's no surprise to me. Unfortunately if this is the case, the dealers have been having a shortage of them

 

I have the exact same problem. The steering pump has a small leak, and needs to be replaced. And yes, they are on back order thru Nissan.

 

Anyone else have a similar issue? It's been almost a year and I still have the issue.. it's not bad enough to where I NEED to get it fixed, but I would like to know what the solution may be

 

Get a rebuild kit from Rockauto.com it's easy not much to it...Hardest part is taking it off and reinstalling it! Disassembly and reasembly is easy as hell.

 

Has anyone had a real "vague" steering feel instead of the usual tightness from the pumps going out?

 

Get your alignment checked. That doesn't sound like a PS problem unless your rack and pinion is bad, which is very doubtful. This sounds like an alignment problem.

 

+1 but I already did alignment with balance and rotation for good measure.

 

Have you looked up reviews of the tire brand and model you have on tirerack.com? Frequently, the tire itself is responsible for a very numb or poor on-center feel. Read the customer reviews to determine if that may be part of the problem. Besides tires or alignment, I don't know. A bad rack and pinion would prevent the shop from being able to align the car properly and the shop could identify that during the alignment. You would have left with an improper alignment and instructions to get the rack and pinion replaced. Otherwise, you're looking at steering knuckles being bad (also unlikely).

Last resort - check lug nut tightness....dunno - grasping at straws on that one.

 

Sounds Like a power steering pump issue to me since the low speed & high Speed behavoir are a different feel and boost level! Swap it with a Good used unit or rebuild yours.....Sounds like the pressure relieve valve is stuck open and since these really don't have a true filteration system it's possible to have some debris in your system or just dirty a$$ fluid (Dextron 3)....causing your pump to bypass most of your pressure....

 

How long does it take to switch out the pump on these? 2 hours?

 

Just experienced similar issues in the last two days. First day i noticed noise when turning the steering wheel to almost lockout position. the next day, in the AM I noticed the same noise barley turning 10 degrees. In the PM I could barely turn the wheel to get out of my parking spot. This morning I took the car in to the dealer. They have already called me and told me it was the Power steering unit and that they ordered one but it will not be in until tomorrow. So, Ill be without my car for the next two days, minimum. I just purchased my 2013 Maxi only 3 months ago. Even though its only a year old, I find its very early to be having problems like this.
Coming from an '02 Honda Accord (original owner), I had zero issues until the car was about 10 years old.

 

When my 2003 Frontier was less than 6 months old the power steering unit failed and the dealership put in a new one and it's been working great ever since. Only failure I ever had on this truck.

 

Follow up. Got my car back Feb 26. They had changed my power steering unit and now my steering is fine but I'm hearing a pop or knock sound coming from the front passenger side of the console. I havent found the exact location of the sound and its intermittent but it may be the right front brake caliper. Any suggestions?
Sorry, the sound has occurred when leaving a stop sign or occasionally when accelerating and then taking my foot off the gas, there's like a "pop" or "knock" sound.

 

Did they say what the cost would have been if you weren't under warranty?

 

No, they didnt but the invoice listed the parts and the hourly rate:

Power steering pump
Pump, injector
Gasket
Oil A/T 1L
2DR9A clip

The hourly rate for labor here in Canada was listed at $99.95
Due to the fact that its warrantied I paid zero. I have to return there this week for something else, so I will inquire as to the actual cost for parts and labor time for you.

 

Returned to the dealer today for follow up on the work. Apparently the noise I was hearing was due to them not torquing down an engine mount properly. When changing the power steering unit they have to drop the engine to do this and didnt torque all the bolts right.
As to the cost, they couldnt tell me exactly but the service guy I spoke to said it was easily a $500 job. But...the labor was $99.95/ hr for about 4 Hrs so all the parts I listed before were a total of about $100.
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for looking into that, much appreciated.