What is this unit i circled in red attached to the belt? i know the one on the other side is the alternator but i dont see this on everyones car, was just wondering what it is

mine has a little miniature dipstick in it too

 

for example, this guy doesn't have anything over there

 

Psst.

Power steering pump.

 

It's a belt driven flux capacitor. Produces 1.21 gigawats of electricity.....

 

hilarious

 

I wonder were I can get one of those, I can make lots of money producing 1.21 gigglewatts of power

 

Hey jon, it's definitely the power steering, some people remove them as the manual steering is apparently more responsive and will free up some HP. It is a pain to steer at slow speeds though without it...

Here's a pic of mine before I got car painted..

 

i got rid of my p/s no need for it. plus its one less leak to worry about

 

im not sure i wanna do that, the power steering in my dads truck went out suddenly when i was turning into our driveway and i nearly put the thing into a pole. it was a bitch to turn at 10 mph

 

That's because steering a hydraulic rack with no power steering is completely different than using a manual rack.