steering no assist - intermittent

Hello,
Hope some of you can help me.
I just acquired a '97 cav, 2.4 T engine. Has the variable assist steering. Have found it intermittently giving NO assist, but only on right turns. Left works fine, but right is stiff. Then, it suddenly goes away and works like nothing ever was wrong.

Is this somehow connected to the wheel speed sensor at each front wheel? Or, is there some valve or mechanism which is getting stuck intermittently, then freeing up? OR????.......

Have not been able to acquire a REAL shop manual for it yet. Chiltons and Haynes are worthless - say absolutely nothing about the power steering system on this car (as I ALWAYS seem to find is the case when I'm trying to fix something).

Thanks in advance for your help.

take it to a dealer and check the struts and the intermediate steering shaft. more than likely thats your problem