Throck!

I'm hoping this is the right area.

I was driving my car (2010 GT) yesterday and the steering suddenly got very stiff. When I got home I checked the fluid level, thinking it was really low (but no whining). The fluid was full, but burnt. What can cause this?

Is the stiff steering the cause of the burnt fluid or is the burnt fluid the cause of the stiff steering?

The only issue I've had with the steering is the return line got too close to a pulley after the S/C install and cut a hole in the line. I cut the hose and reconnected with a plastic nipple. Could that be restricting the flow enough to cause this? This was a pretty sudden onset, so it makes me think the nipple isn't the problem.

I'm getting ready to crawl under the car and change the fluid/bleed the rack and see if that helps, but I'd like to know the cause so I can fix it.

Oh, and when I drive it longish distances on hot days there is an almost butane smell in the cab...does ATF smell like butane when burning? Doubt it, but two issues happening at roughly the same time makes me lean toward it being the same problem propagating different symptoms. (I changed fuel filter and insulated the refrigerant lines hoping that may be the problem, no smell since but haven't been on long rides since).

Thanks for any advice.

Throck!

Well, I purged as much fluid as I could, refilled, and bled the system. It still didn't work for about 30 miles, then it started working perfectly again.

Asked the Ford garage about it, they told me to bring it in so they can check it over just to be safe.

No real answers yet, though I am looking into an extra fan to cool the heat exchanger/condenser. Maybe A/C getting too much heat load is causing a leak and the smell and underhood temps are causing the P/S to burn? I know my heat exchanger can definitely use a fan so won't be a total possible waste of money.