Agreed with AUseeker.
Pop the hood, open the power steering reservoir. Have someone else hop in the truck and turn the steering to almost full lock back and forth while you're looking at the reservoir. If you see bubbles coming up, the power steering system just wasn't bled completely. Bleeding it is simple, you just keep on turning the wheel back and forth almost lock to lock, until no more bubbles.
EDIT: do this while truck is running, wheels on the ground, not jacked up.
If you don't see any leaking fluid, and its not hard to turn or whining anymore, its probably fine. In my experience, power steering systems aren't that complicated. If somethings up with them, you can feel it in the steering wheel, or you can hear it. Or you have power steering fluid dripping onto the ground.
As an encouragement, I think you did the right thing with the repairs. It always sucks having big bills hit you when you don't expect them, but its still way cheaper than selling for a fraction of what the vehicle is worth, and buying new. What you just spent on repairs is going to keep your car going for a good while to come. Comparatively, it would have made about 7 or 8 car payments on a new car. I always like to think of big bills like that in terms of new car payments. Over time, the repair almost always ends up being cheaper than having those car payments every single month.
Also, as an aside, if you're interested in working on your car and saving some money in the future, start looking at some youtube videos of these repairs. Some of the things you paid for CAN be done simply, saving hundreds of dollars. For example, tensioner and pulleys is 150ish in parts, and a couple of hours of your own labor, using common tools. That's not helpful when you have a deadline, and are stuck and need the car fixed asap. But doing the labor yourself CAN save you money. I find i spend way less money on my vehicle planning ahead and doing proactive preventative maintenance and repairs myself. That often means replacing parts simply because of their age, so that I have the freedom to plan doing the repair myself, saving money on labor, and avoiding an unplanned breakdown. Just some thoughts.
Pop the hood, open the power steering reservoir. Have someone else hop in the truck and turn the steering to almost full lock back and forth while you're looking at the reservoir. If you see bubbles coming up, the power steering system just wasn't bled completely. Bleeding it is simple, you just keep on turning the wheel back and forth almost lock to lock, until no more bubbles.
EDIT: do this while truck is running, wheels on the ground, not jacked up.
If you don't see any leaking fluid, and its not hard to turn or whining anymore, its probably fine. In my experience, power steering systems aren't that complicated. If somethings up with them, you can feel it in the steering wheel, or you can hear it. Or you have power steering fluid dripping onto the ground.
As an encouragement, I think you did the right thing with the repairs. It always sucks having big bills hit you when you don't expect them, but its still way cheaper than selling for a fraction of what the vehicle is worth, and buying new. What you just spent on repairs is going to keep your car going for a good while to come. Comparatively, it would have made about 7 or 8 car payments on a new car. I always like to think of big bills like that in terms of new car payments. Over time, the repair almost always ends up being cheaper than having those car payments every single month.
Also, as an aside, if you're interested in working on your car and saving some money in the future, start looking at some youtube videos of these repairs. Some of the things you paid for CAN be done simply, saving hundreds of dollars. For example, tensioner and pulleys is 150ish in parts, and a couple of hours of your own labor, using common tools. That's not helpful when you have a deadline, and are stuck and need the car fixed asap. But doing the labor yourself CAN save you money. I find i spend way less money on my vehicle planning ahead and doing proactive preventative maintenance and repairs myself. That often means replacing parts simply because of their age, so that I have the freedom to plan doing the repair myself, saving money on labor, and avoiding an unplanned breakdown. Just some thoughts.
