I finished replacing the old power steering pump (which had been making lots of noise lately) on my '02 Dodge Ram with a rebuilt unit from Autozone earlier this evening. After following the usual procedure (bleeding the system, removing air, etc.), I have NO power steering. None. The new pump is quiet as a mouse and never even made any noise on start-up. It doesn't seem to be pumping at all. Is it common for rebuilt power steering pumps to be DOA?

in a word - Yes especially Duralast. my first one from them was DOA and the one i have now doesn't seem to put out enough pressure.

I exchanged the bad pump for a new one, and the second one seems to work just fine. Although they were the same brand, the first one was rebuilt in Mexico, and the second one in China. Despite the fact that the second one was labeled as "rebuilt," it looked brand new to me (no paint, no marks from bolts/washers, etc.). Getting a low-pressure/bad-rebuild pump the first time wouldn't have surprised me, but getting one that doesn't work at all (absolutely zero pressure) did.