Hard steering

[Pneubi]

I bought a my03 from orig owner 211000km. Dealer scheduled service all done. Flew through safety inspection except for no power steering. Turning wheel left a hiss can be heard but not to the right. Dealer said it was not variable assist and the steer shaft ujoint was not binding. They did not disconnect it from the rack to test it. Told me I needed a pump. Had my local wrench replace the pump (1/3 price of dealer), fluid, and sadly no change. He told me it must be the rack. Damn. Then I went to my local private Volvo wrench to order the rack. He said there was no way they (dealer) could test the ujoint without taking it apart. Ordered a rack with the idea that it could be returned if we found the joint was bad. This is my question before I proceed...what about the hiss at my feet? Is there anything else I should check before diving into the 5 hours of expensive labour?
I have read nearly 5 hours over a week on here an learned sooo much. Im delighted such resources out there as they've certainly changed since my '87 740 wagon!
Thanks for any ideas....
Ted

[bleedscream]

I don't have a clue about your problem, but have you searched through the posts at swedespeed and brickboard ... they are larger forums and may have something for you there. Good luck. :)

[howardc64]

Just to confirm a few things

- Hiss at your feet is only related to steering and not braking? Brake booster is a frequent failure on this car and hisses. I'd imagine the dealer would have caught that.
- Rack has no visible signs of leaks? (look at tie rod boots to see if they are wet at bottom or any PS fluid loss at the reservoir). Again, a rather easy thing to catch during inspection and the dealer probably would have caught that.
- when turning left, you hear hiss and is hard to steer?
- Check the steering column boot right where steering column goes into floor board to make sure the boot didn't pop out. You will hear the turbo when this happens but shouldn't be a hiss turning left. Again, easy to spot and would have been caught by the dealer.