steering wheel hard to turn

i've been neglecting my front brakes on my 99 windstar, i was planning on getting them fixed friday and i noticed yesterday that there is a loud squeaking when i turn the wheel, today i was parking and the wheel was really hard to turn. i put power steering fluid in today and there must be a leak is this a easy fix

mtp

Did it get easier to steer when you added fluid? The difficulty of the repair depends on where the fluid is leaking out. You may need a hose, a pump, or a steering rack replaced.

The noise you speak of may be the power steering pump or the belt.

I don't think that there is a conection between the brakes and the steering problem. I'm not sure if you were inplying this or not.

Regards

Dan

i just came from midas they told me its the pump ($119 part $185 labor)and the rack ($499 part 249 labor) and there is a 3rd hose ($80 part $92 labor)and gave me a price of $1300. i went to a local rapair place and they are doing it all for $400 total. i find that to be a crazy difference. i also had a oil change done and they found little metal shavings in it, so that will probably cause the next heart attack. they added bg additive to it but they could not tell me what caused it. so one down and about three more to go.