Q – My 944 lost its power steering after a trip to the body shop when the car was being repaired for about a month. Now when I turn the steering wheel, it gets tight at 180 degree intervals. They claim that they did not touch the steering and I don’t know why they would have had to but now it steers terribly. Bruce
A – A very simply way to determine if your power assist is working or not is to turn the engine off and try to rotate the steering wheel then start the car and try it again. If you notice a marked difference in effort, the power steering is working. The clue to your symptom is the 180 degree intervals. The steering shaft has two universal joints that tend to get rusty and bind. When they do, you notice it every half turn of the wheel when the angle is the most acute. As your car sat at the body shop, when the humidity got to those exposed universal joints, the problem surfaced. It is not their fault. The part is simply failing.
You can lubricate that universal jointed shaft with penetrating oil or grease and this will probably alleviate the binding for a while. In the long run, you will need to replace the shaft or joints. When the seals fail, and the grease washes away, rust sets in. Sooner or later, the joint will loosen up and create slop in the steering wheel. I have never seen one broken but driving with loose steering is very disconcerting to me and on a Porsche, utterly unacceptable. –MC