2003 Yukon - Slow Speed Turning Issue, Turning Left

[BIF623]

I've read a lot of posts and there seems to be many possibilities for slow speed turning issues. I'm trying to narrow it down, because I'm going to be doing the work myself, for monetary reasons.

 

I have a 2003 Yukon 2wd. Last week I noticed that when turning at slow speeds the steering became momentarily difficult. There was also a whine associated with it. I flushed the fluid thinking that would be it. The whine disappeared, but the difficult steering did not.

 

I drove it around this morning for 20 minutes to see if I can pinpoint it more, and here's what I found.

 

1. Its only happening when turning left, from a slow speed or stopped position.

2. It gets worse as the vehicle gets warmer.

3. It seems like the system is louder now and that any steering input, left or right, makes the "hissing" sound normally associated with turning the wheels to full lock. However it might always make this noise and I'm just hypersensitive about it. Turning the wheel left to full lock does make a louder hiss than turning it right to full lock though.

 

My pump does not have any wires going to it, as some have suggested some kind of sensor associated with it.

 

Any ideas? Thanks!