My van is having a hard time turning, would this be the power steering pump going out and if so how can I fix my 1998 Mercury villager

SOURCE: power steering pump

This removal is rather involved: use a turkey baster to suction out PS fluid,disconnect neg battery cable, remove serpentine belt, raise vehicle, support on jack stands, disconnect Oxygen sensor wiring harness from vehicle wiring harness, (access to this connection is thru the wiring harness grommet in the floor of the vehicle) remove catalytic converter from the exhaust manifold, remove exhaust system hangers/isolators from the bracket on the exhaust system, move the exhaust system as far as possible to the rear and left side of the vehicle, remove accessory drive splash shield, detach the ps supply hose coming from the fluid reservoir, from the fitting on the ps pump, plug the hose to prevent fluid leaking all over, remove ps pressure line from pump, plug this line also, remove ps return hose, plug line, remove nut attaching pump (@ rear of pump) to mounting bracket, loosen 3 bolts at front ps bracket, remove pump and bracket as an assembly, now remove 3 bolts and separate, reverse to install. Yes, it's a b-itch. good luck, countrycurt0

SOURCE: 98 mercury villager power dteering noise and hard to turn

The squeeling noise you hear could be the bearings in your power steering pump, when bearings go bad they tend to make a squeeling noise.

SOURCE: bleeding power steering pump

Just did mine...unplug 2-3 of your plug wires so the vehicle doesn't start but turns over. Turn over motor a few seconds then refill power steering resevoir. Repeat until resevoir quits needing fluid...replace wires and drive slowly turning steering wheel from just short of all the way right then repeat to the left. This will get the air out of the lines. Check the fluid after this last step.

SOURCE: 2005 toyota sienna van power steering very hard

Most likely the problem is the lower steering knuckle. This is the one outside of the firewall, under the vehicle and it hooks up to the power steering assist cylinder. In my opinion the knuckle has to work at an unreasonably steep angle and this compounds the problem. The knuckle (especially in salt areas starts to corrode and becomes hard to turn. Toyota says the water gets into the bearing and they beings to rust the bearing and turning the whell starts to feel stiff. I have this problem and I sprayed liberal amounts of a rust inhibitor that a local place uses to rust proof cars (They sell small spray bottles of it for $5). They are called OIL TECH in Barrie, Ontario and make up their own formula. The formula has addatives that breaks the surface tension on the oil treatment and gets it into the tiny cracks and crevices on your vehicle. I sprayed this all over the knuckle, turned it back and forth a couple of times and continued spraying. I let it sit for an hour and went for a test drive -- problem solved. You could actually see the rust on the exposed parts of the knuckle. I probably will have to do this once every month of two but what the heck. It is a lot cheaper than having to replace the steering shaft ($1000+???) Probably other types of rust proofing or lubricating oils will work. I long for the old days of grease fittings and you never had to replace ball joints and tie rod ends etc.
Norm

SOURCE: 98 F.Windstar replace power steering pump but still hard to steer

rack and-or pinion... Good thing the 98 is a very good and popular windstar, its not as bad as it sounds.