95 850 - Steering extremely difficult but seemingly affected by incline

[FZE]

For several weeks now my 95 850 wagon has been very difficult to steer at low speed, it feels as though I have no power steering at all but I have not heard any whining from the pump, which is appropriately filled with fluid. I first noticed it happening when I would brake to make a turn and suddenly find myself unable to spin the wheel without massive effort. The only peculiarity which makes me think it might not be a fault in the power steering system is that when backing out of a friend's inclined driveway, the steering is absolutely fine and effortless, Could this issue be related to suspension, or is it more likely a problem with the power steering? Is there a reliable test for either scenario, or another possible cause that has not occurred to me?

[Wesdunns70t5m]

I'll be watching this thread as I'm interested as to what it is

 

my first step would be to jack the front of the car up and try turning the wheel and see if there's any difference.  Maybe have a friend turn the wheel and you can inspect everything from underneath

[troyhyde]

I think I'd ignore the performance on an incline. 

Make sure you don't have air in the system and make sure you have good tension via the serpentine belt.  Should turn on flat dry land, even sitting still, without tremendous effort...  Maybe someone put something in the reservoir that doesn't behave like hydraulic fluid...

The pressure line can get loose on these but generally you are going to see bubbles in the reservoir and perhaps leakage at the pump.

[Fudge_Brownie]

This could be alignment related. If one side is out heavily from the other it'll feel real heavy at low speeds.

[Modus]

Hi the top of the strut tower with a couple of bursts of penetrating oil, perhaps the strut bearings are binding. This happened to me. Spray underneath the large washer on top from under the hood.