This vehicle is rarely driven. One day while I was driving to work it suddenly became hard to steer. I drove it home and the next day I was checking it out to try to diagnose the problem and it just started working again. Then a few weeks later it stopped again. No noise, no leaks, although the fluid looks dirty the level is good. Any help on this issue would be much appreciated.

 

Was there any "extra" noise when the steering effort was hard, such as a moaning noise? I'm not sure if your 2001 has the variable assist power steering. If so, there may be a problem in the electrical system for the variable assist. If that electric motor stops working your steering effort will be higher and there will be no noise typical of a power steering put.

Did you happen to notice the engine speed when this happened? Was the truck idling slower than usual? If the engine speed was low at the time the pump would not be turning as fast and could cause increased steering effort. If it's cold where you live now and your Idle Air Control (IAC) solenoid is not functioning properly you could get the symptoms you describe, but I would expect this to only cause increased steering effort when the engine is at idle. If you were experiencing this while driving/accelerating I don't think the IAC is the issue.

-Rod

 

No noise at all. The engine idle speed is good. When it stopped working, it completely stopped. Reving the engine made no difference in the stiffness. Strange! Thanks for your input.