Alright so im cruisn down the street bumpin some tunes coming to a intersection and was making a right turn to go into the parking lot and i over shot my turn and stomped down on the brakes and slid into some mulch and flowers and quickly i backed the car out to pull into the lot to inspect my royal "F up" so no body damage just dirty from bury front left wheel in mulch....so i thought i was good to no but NO! I goto turn the wheel right to turn out of lot and its somewhat hard to turn so i get close to my house and parked.Popped the hood and see lil white speckles as if something was spraying on passager side engine bay and also i smell a faint coolant smell.So i hopped back in to run some tests and notice im alil over average temp(i.e. temp gauge on cluster) and its hard to turn to steering in PARK so i drove and notice i dont get any turning power until i press on the gas...like making a right hand turn i gotta ride the throttle and turn wheel with alil force to even maneuver correctly so now im at a cross-roads...what next?....PS pump or rack and pinion..and BTW please explain this to me because im a avid DIY but i need alil kick in the butt in learn..so any input is welcomed

 

Your temp should not impact the steering. Did you check the power steering fluid? Perhaps you are low. Hypothetically (and this is a long shot), maybe something damaged the power steering system. More the likely, you have a clump of mulch built up somewhere it does not belong.

I'd check the fluid level first and go from there. You mention the steering improves as you give it gas, that means when giving it gas, the belt spins FASTER allowing the pulley on the pump to spin faster, thus moving more fluid at a faster pace.

 

so i took a look at my belt tension and it looks wobbly despite me tighten it alil more so ill havta replace that...looks easy.And also after inspecting PS fluid that it smells burned so im thinking a PS flush on the reservoir and i played with the PS line and started her up and SHE WAS NORMAL !!!...i could turn with my fingers again(wouldnt recommend if you have stubby digits lol) so yeah rode all day with no steering probs...dont ask me i dont know it was kinda scary driving so perfect not a peep lol and also my mysterious temp guage prob mentioned earlier vanished when the steering started acting right .But on my way home coming down a steep street to turn in home and SERVICE TRAC as well as ABS n CE light blinked once then went away ?????????????..

 

The belt tensioner is very easy to replace - it's either 1 or 2 bolts. I have to do it on my Silverado - it's loose and chatters, especially when the engine's cold. My belt has already slipped and snapped once because of it.

 

and as far as the coolant speckles n smell i think i traced it to left top corner of water pump when looking on 3.4 pulleys...is it the water pump or a gasket?

 

On a 3100 and 3400, when the pump goes bad, you can usually see a wet mark on the hood insulation. The task of changing the pump is EASY and it's like a $20-$30 part.

As for the PS fluid, keep an eye on it. It's a bit odd that it had a "burnt" smell to it.

 

i done some research on the burnt PS fluid n they say at 100k we're due for a PS flush and bieing i can physically see the reservoir tank ima go for it so my next question is where is the PS filter so i can clean that up too?

 

There is no filter. And please for the love of God, don't put that stop leak fluid in it.

 

i read i can you transmission fliud syn ATF...and how bout redline

 

This is an old school trick - did it myself back 20 years or so ago in an '85 Grand Am that had a leaking PS reservoir. It was a bit harder to turn, but the ATF fluid didn't leak out as fast as the watery PS fluid. ATF was a lot cheaper too! Not sure it's still safe to do this today. Someone with more knowledge than I will surely chime in!