So it seems now that whenever its cold out my truck has absolutely no power steering. It eventually will loosen up after the truck is up to temp, or my RPM is about idle, but it makes it a royal PITA when backing out of the drive way or trying to turn in parking lots and such. Any suggestions as to what could be causing this?

 

First thing I would try would be to change the fluid and put some sort of adative in there. Then if that doesn't fix it then look at installing a new pump.

 

Yep. Put some good sythetic PS fluid in there and it'll be fine. The old stuff got thick and gooey is probably all that's wrong.

 

Try checking your fluid level cold after it has set overnight.
If it is low add fluid so it is filled back up to full cold. If you have to add fluid and it acts normal - watch it to see if fluid bubbles out after you turn it offwhen it has warmed up. This would indicate trapped air in the system. You can destroy the pump if you let it run dry.

 

Mine used to do that. Turns out the pump had blown an internal seal.

I flushed it with new fluid and all, . . . . . no good.

If that's the original pump, then you might consider going ahead and replacing it before putting in the synthetic.

 

I have gotten in the habit of changing the PS fluid in all of my vehicles
whenever the engine gets it's service.
I have one of those mighty vac suction gadgets and it's easy to do.
Steering fluid is cheap, pumps and steering boxes aren't.