Could be - I just changed out the pump in my 98 - was leaking like a stuck pig. Dealership quoted $1200 - I bought a remanufactured pump online for $150 and a hose from the dealership (from the resevoir to the pump) for $65 and works great. Take a look at your resevoir to see how low your fluid is. Mine acted very similar until I fixed it.
Not too bad of a job except it's really tight in there and I couldn't figure out a good way to catch the fluid that I drained and it made quite a mess. Also had to reuse the pulley and the mount - most likely you'll need a 3 hole puller to do this. Remounting the pulley mount wasn't too bad except it was a pain in the A$$ holding the trianglular shaped pulley mount while you tighten the bolt to work it back on.
Good luck!
