[Wilbur]

Because of the Procharger attached to the front of the engine, I am running a small power steering pump with remote reservoir on my 454. This pump feeds the hydraboost brake booster and a 3 turn steering box. I have been having some problems trying to steer at low speeds- felt like manual steering. I have been living with this (I know- ignoring it won't make it go away), but this week it started feeling like it was locking in odd positions. Usually when I would turn left, it would feel like it was stuck in postion, but I would be able to force it back. Scared me to death at highway speed. But I still tried to make it home (how dumb is that). I was almost home and it started howling under the hood, and the brakes would lock up when I pressed the brake peddle. A couple kicks at the peddle and it would let go, and I did manage to limp home, repeating the above process at each stop. After replacing my shorts I started the disassembly. I drained the fluid, it's full of suspended metal. I removed the pump and took out the valve, it's screen was full of metal. I've never worked on power steering pumps, but I opened the pump anyway, a bunch of parts fell out, and I don't know if they are worn or not- I was planning on replacing it. My question is: does this behavior (the pump, not me) indicate just a failure of the pump? Or should I suspect the gearbox as well? Since there was a lot of metal in the fluid, should I open the gearbox, or can I just flush it? What is the best method to flush it? I probably should open the hydraboost unit as well? Finally, What the heck happened?