I really hope someone can advise me. I''ve had my 99 Sable wagon a month or so and was driving home last night in torrential rain when the battery light flickered on and off a few times. About 5 minutes later when I came to my turn the power steering seemed to seize up - it was a real struggle to take the corner. Thank God I wasn''t going too fast or I would have hit the car waiting to turn out of my street.

After that one difficult turn it was OK and was fine this am. But I''m now really nervous about driving the car, especially with my kids on board. Can anyone help?

 

Have the serpentine and gen belts checked.

 

The tensioner pulley may be on the fritz which would explain it all. If there is too much slack in the serp belt it would definatley slip in the rain. That would cause the batt. light to come on ''cause the alternator is not spinning fast enough, and the power steering pump would suffer the same. Check the belt first, then the tensioner and/or idler pulleys. Let me know.

 

Thanks so much... I did get the belt replaced: it was a tad loose. So far all is
well – the the rain hasn’t been as heavy in any case!