Potential Power Steering Pump Issue. Need some assistance.

[dshelton23]

Hello! I don't know very much about cars so I figured I'd hop on this forum for some help with my Subaru... I have a 2008 Subaru Legacy 2.5. There was a pretty bad snowstorm in my area earlier this week, and I got my car stuck on a road where the snow was a little too high for me to drive on. I got about 3 feet from the road and bottomed out. I had a wrecker come and pull me the 3 feet so my front tires would catch traction on the road so I could drive home. I didn't wreck the vehicle or hit anything other than some snow. I'm mentioning this, because ever since the wrecker pulled me to the road I had an issue with my steering being stiff. I originally thought the alignment might have been throw off a bit so I had an alignment done. This did not fix the problem. Not long after the alignment I was making a sharp turn near my house and there was a loud screeching noise, and it got louder when I hit the gas pedal. I pulled over and it lost power. I got out to make sure the engine wasn't smoking, which is was not. I turned the car off and back on and it had some power and let me drive it so I drove it home. I had a buddy come look at it, and the V-belt had snapped so I went and bought a new one. Today we put the new V-belt on, and when I turn the wheel it stiffens up and makes the screeching noise again. Everything I've read about the screeching noise comes down to a power steering pump issue, but due to the fact that these issues started happening imediantly after the wrecker pulled me I'm concerned there could be more going on here. Any thoughts?

[Max Capacity]

Any updates if your still around ?

 

This may have gotten more traffic if it was in the 4th Gen forum.

 

Was there a red stain in the snow when the car was pulled out ?