Alright I'm on my 4th power steering rack in my 04 SS S/C and now my power steering is out again. After several warranties and the shop telling me that my headers ruined my 3rd rack, I've had enough.

This time it wasn't a leak, I turned the wheel, went to turn back and about halfway before going back to neutral position I lost my power steering, no fluid loss, no forewarning of bad whining, just felt like the pump quit putting out pressure.

I would assume after so many leaking parts that the pump was going bad but to fail without leaking or whining seems odd to me. I know that all the accessories run off the same belt so is there a plastic coupler between the shaft and pump that would keep it from seizing up on the belt? I'm not sure if the belt has ever been replaced, but I would assume I'd be seeing other accessories failing or hearing the belt slip if the belt was bad.

What does it sound like to you guys? A bad pump? Bad rack? I love this car but the cost of repairs and parts are killing me. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Generally....
If I had to replace the rack that many times...
I would have also replaced the power steering pump to eliminate any contaminated fluid and or floating broken parts in the system...

My money is on residual grindage in the fluid from previous damaged racks. Thus causing the other racks to fail.

So,
I would put in a new (Not used) Rack and power steering pump..
along with either replacing the lines as well or have them flushed out to remove any other particles that maybe lodged into the lines...

This should solve your problem...

should you be running over sized wheels... This to causes excessive wear on the rack and pump... because those parts were/are not designed to support oversized wheels and tires.