heavy notchy steering

Morning guys
Firstly this is not mine. Its not even a land rover!
Its a nissan pathfinder
My mates
Hes just bought it with a steering fault but cant localise it
So I said id ask the gurus
When stationery the steering wheel is heavy with moments/notches of lightness.
When driving it frees up and steers just fine
Thers plenty of fluid in it and nissan said they cant book it in unless they do the job and we all know what dealers are like for finding none existing problems
Anyone got a clue?
I thought steering rack or power steering pump but since both are quite expensive we need to narrow it down even more

I'd look at power steering pump first. The symptoms of stiff steering when stationary sound the same as when the ignition is off, so maybe worth checking electrical connections.

Thought the power steering was belt driven?
Or are nissan electric switched?

Needs diagnostics, not sure if that model has electric assist or not, also it may have speed sensitive variable assistance.
Jack the front wheels of the ground and with the ignition off, see how the steering feels.

Datatek said:

Needs diagnostics, not sure if that model has electric assist or not, also it may have speed sensitive variable assistance.
Jack the front wheels of the ground and with the ignition off, see how the steering feels.

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No its not speed sensitive
ive told him to jack it up but havent heard owt back yet

gfromleeds said:

No its not speed sensitive
ive told him to jack it up but havent heard owt back yet

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when jacked up it turns lock to lock easly

Pump on its way out? Belt slipping?

If at idle the steering is heavy and when revs picked up by a few hundred it goes easy I would expect the pump or a partial blockage in the pipework does the oil look burnt or smell burnt.

Pathfinders are belt driven and are not speed sentitive I have fitted a few pumps in the pass whilst I worked for nissan main dealer never done a rack tho.....

Check column hook joints and lube

Think we might have found the problem
The tensioner is seized with the belt slightly slack
But we wont be able to get a replacement till back end of the week
No guarantee that is the problem but its certainly not helping
Ill post back when we got it changed
Is it worth getting a new belt since were taking it off anyway? It looks ok but no clue how old it is

gfromleeds said:

Think we might have found the problem
The tensioner is seized with the belt slightly slack
But we wont be able to get a replacement till back end of the week
No guarantee that is the problem but its certainly not helping
Ill post back when we got it changed
Is it worth getting a new belt since were taking it off anyway? It looks ok but no clue how old it is

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New belt if it's been slipping.

Problem sorted
Turns out the tentioner is not spring loaded.
You adjust it by loosening the bolt holding the pulley then tightening the mounting point bolts effectively moving the entire unit then lock it in place by retighening the pulley bolt
Seems a strange way to do it to me but thats the way it is.
all seems well now
He said he'll buy you all a beer!! I wouldnt hold my breath lol