Why would steering have tight spots all of a sudden?

[woodstock]

2003 S60. All of a sudden he car has tight spots in the steering? I loaned the car out for a month but have no reason to think anything happened to the car. Now out of the blue there are tight spots in the steering. What could possible cause this? Power steering fluid doesn't leak, and is full. I know on my 240's the U-joint was a common point of contention, but I have never heard of that on the S60? An ideas? I think the serpentine belt looks healthy(I think that drives the PS pump..)

[Ihatespeedbumps]

Could possible be the u-joint or the rack is leaking internally. Any strange noises while turning?

[woodstock]

No noises while turning, and the fluid level was good in the reservoir

[BlackT5]

I just went through this with my 2000R. It progressively got worse to the point that the steering wheel would stick in certain positions while driving. The rack was toast.

[hootie6828]

It may be the rack, but I would start by pulling the u-joint loose and making sure the binding isn't in the joint or the column. Be careful once the column is loose, if you turn the wheel more than about 1/2 turn either direction you may damage the clockspring.

[cruzer555]

If your S60 is equipped with the variable assist steering, occasionally the solenoid or relay can cause issues like that.. It'll lose power steering and get really tight in spots but then sometimes go back to normal. 

[woodstock]

Thanks for the input guys. It does not have variable assist steering. Unfortunately I was injured and will have to rely on a shop to fix as I cant really lean over, or get under, the engine bay, but I hope to diagnose first before going to a shop. There isnt any independent Volvo shops nearby anymore. And a trip to the dealer would be especially painful. I know the racks are a bit of a PIA to change in these cars, but if I can determine thats what it is, I do know a small shop that could change the rack. If I can find the ujoint I can hit it with a few blasts of pb blaster or wd-40. I used to do that in my old RWD volvos, and not always, but on some of the cars it freed up the ujoint.

[hootie6828]

You can see the u joint from under the hood if you look down between the upper torque mount and brake master cylinder, probably enough room to spray it with some lube fairly easily. The rack is a pain to change, but the u-joint is easy to get to from the bottom when the car is on a lift. Your small shop should be capable of determining the cause of the issue fairly quickly and cheaply. Replacing it is a different story, but it's still not that bad.

[Flukey]

Try flushing the system.The rack might have built up contamination in it.It can't hurt.

[Midnight Caller]

See if the steering gets stuck at almost every 90 degrees, it's mostly sure the U-joint

[woodstock]

Thanks for all of the input. It was brutally cold here for a stretch, so I didn't get a chance to spray the u-joint with oil. I didn't want the oil to leak all over my garage floor, on it was too nasty out to do it in a parking lot. I then remembered a previous 98XC70 I had a long time ago, and that one too had the tight spots in the steering. I remembered I used Lucas power steering sealer and conditioner back then, and it fixed the issue and I drove it for 5 years after that without issue. So I bought another bottle of the same product, I pumped out what I could from the reservoir with a lube pump and filled the reservoir with the Lucas. Sure enough, it seems like it has almost completely eliminated the problem, and I think with a few more miles of driving it will be fully 'cured'. When the weather gets better I will flush the system, and refill with clean fluid, and some amount of Lucas. Hopefully I have the same luck as the last car I used this product on!

[Turbo5cyl]

I have a very similar issue with my s60r, it feels as if the steering is light and then heavy and then light again all within turning in one direction. It feels a lot tighter when cold than after a decently long drive. Last night I lifted the car and turned the wheels side to side with the engine off and heard like a groaning sound at times. I am about 80% sure its coming from the strut bearing. Mine may be slightly seized, could try checking those as well. Even with the wheels off the ground, its hard to move them side to side by grabbing the wheels, normally that's not very hard. I am quite sure its the strut bearing because if i listen near the wheel well when someone turn the wheel, it sounds like the spring is making the groaning noise as it struggles to turn with the seized bearing.