Weak Power Steering

[spock]

'04 silverado with 43k mi. I need a lot of effort to turn the wheel at low speeds. I am getting very little steering assist. The p/s fluid level is fine and the pump is not making any noise. Is it likely a bad pump?

[Ranger]

Did you add larger wheels/tires or change the suspension in any way? And how about the power steering fluid itself, does it seem discolored or burnt smelling?

[spock]

Did you add larger wheels/tires or change the suspension in any way? And how about the power steering fluid itself, does it seem discolored or burnt smelling?

The truck is an LT but bone stock, still has orig. tires. The fluid seems normal but I think I will change it with fresh fluid as a first step.

[Ranger]

It is possible that the p/s pump is bad, it happens quite a bit...I had the one in my 06 2500hd replaced cause it was making noise at full lock and sometimes it'd be hard to turn unless I kept the RPMs up.

[spock]

I did just find out that my tire pressures were low, one of the fronts was about 10psi too low so I made them the correct pressure and it made a noticeable change in steering effort but it's still not where it needs to be. I saw on another post that synthetic fluid can be used so I think I will flush it and add that and see what happens.