So I finally got around to changing my timing belt and water pump this last weekend and when it was all put back together, the car ran fine, but the power steering pump was loud and I had aerated power steering fluid coming out of the reservoir. I did some research and talked to some friends around here and sounds like a candidate for the problem is the suction hose from the reservoir to the pump. I got one form the dealer and just changed it. This got rid of the aeration in the fluid, but there is still pump noise. The noise is less, but still there. Do you think it's the pump that needs to be replaced too or does the air take a while to work out? In my searching on this forum sounds like some people ended up replacing the power steering pump after a timing belt, even when there were no problems prior. I didn't have a tool to test tension, but the belt definitely isn't too tight.

Any thoughts would be great.

Thanks.

 

I have the same issue, it is pretty bad in the cold and it started after the timing belt and water pump. No sure what the issue is, all I can think is that it is the tension for the power steering belt.

 

same problem here. no solution as of yet.

 

You will most likely have to replace the pump. If there was air in the fluid that would cause what is called cavitation inside the pump which is basically the air bubbles collapsing and causing damage to the pump itself. If you want to read more about it just google pump cavitation. But bottom line is just get a new ps pump.

 

I'm surprised that cavitation for a few minutes would cause damage, but I'm used to seeing cavitation in larger pumps (buildings/facilities) with no damage. I will try Lucas Power Steering Conditioner as it helped my buddies TA when he had a lot of random noise.

 

happened to my bro

 

Be sure to post the results, because I wondering how the Lucas Oil conditioner would work.

 

Any update to this from original poster?

 

Sorry, fell off my radar... It didn't help my problem, I ended up replacing the pump which was easy, but expensive. I think the problem was either jarring around while doing the timing belt or over tightened. I will take the pump apart when I find some time, figure out why it went bad and probably rebuild it for a back up.

 

My pump was whining a ton every time I would rev the engine and turn the wheels. This happened right after I did the timing belt and water pump job. So I replaced this gasket and the gasket that fits around the high pressure hose and the suction pipe that is coming out of the reservoir and I drove like this for about 250 miles before I completed the job. There used to also be a bunch of bubbles in the power steering liquid in the reservoir and now that and the noise is completely gone! Thanks a ton to ACURAZINE!!