Got in the Jeep at work Friday, and the steering wheel would go about a
quarter turn to the left and a bit farther to the right and the power
steering is making the dreaded sucking sound. Checked the bottle of
fluid I keep on hand, it was empty. Stopped off at NAPA on the way home
for more fluid, topped it up, when I got home I bled it, seemed to be
OK, but I'd had enough of it dripping all over everything and having to
be topped up every time I got gas. So the plan was to go get the parts
and overhaul the damned steering--nice weekend project.

A block away from Advance the "check gages" light comes on and steering
gets very hard. Looked ag gages, tempeature is way high. Stopped,
popped the hood, there's cooland blasting out around the radiator cap
and no belt in sight. Also no pulley on the power steering.

Ordinarily under that circumstance I'd have it towed home, but my bike's
on the fritz as well at the moment, so nothing for it but to tow it down
to Firestone and let them have at it (why Firestone? Because they're
right next door to Enterprise, which simplifies the "arrange alternate
transportation" issue). They want to replace the whole system--that's
what I was going to do anyway, so no biggie excpet that it costs three
times as much to have them do it.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH.