'01 X5 Diagnosis
 

'01 X5 4.4i abruptly became very difficult to steer. My wife thought flat tire, stopped and checked tires, no flat. She drove another mile and steering became more difficult, vehicle began to smoke and she stopped. When I arrived, I noted a large trail of fluid which didn't appear to be oil. I thought coolant. Under the hood, the coolant reservoir was empty but no sign of leakage around the reservoir. The fan belt was off and cracked. The fan appeared to be out of alignment. I'm thinking water pump failure but I can't reconcile the steering issue. There was also some golden looking fluid dripping from the opening beneath the transmission just behind a similar opening where the drain plug is located.Planning to have it towed to service center tomorrow. Any thoughts?

My thought is the fluid is hydraulic fluid from the power steering pump. A blown high pressure steering hose is a known failure mode. Leaking power steering fluid would cause smoke on the exhaust manifold. If the power steering pump ran dry, it may have seized up causing the belt to be thrown and injured the fan. If your water pump failed and thrown a belt, you would have noticed a temperature rise and increased steering effort, but no fluid. Check your power steering fluid reservoir. Good luck

Turned out to be the water pump/bearings. Need new pump, belt, thermostat, etc. Thanks for the reply!

Well then you're lucky the fan didn't ruin the radiator. The smoke must have been steam, and the liquid, coolant.

When the pump went it sprayed coolant on the belts causing belt slippage and hard steering. Then belt broke therefore no power steering. How many miles on ur X5?

Your signature says 58K, that's a little early as concensus has the water pump giving out between 60K-80K - I did mine at 61K - Sorry to hear you found out the hard way