Hi everyone...first post, new to this forum and unfortunately, my first post will have to be negative. I just recently bought a certified 2008 TL. I've been driving it as a DD to work and on two occasions coming home, I've noticed my engine whine.

Tonight, it happened again. It seems to whine whenever I accelerate. So I got home, parked the car, and with the ignition still on, I gave the engine several revs. The whine definitely gets louder with the revs.

I then popped the hood and estimated source of the whine (or whirr) to be on the left side of the engine bay near the drive belt. At first I thought maybe it was the drive belt. But I put a bit of pressure either left or right on my steering wheel and the noise gets noticeably louder.

Now I've did my fair share of searching, and from what I've read, everything seems to point towards an issue with power steering. Can anyone confirm this from the information given? Also, if it is indeed the power steering, why does it get louder with RPMs?

I am planning on bringing it in tomorrow afterwork. I am hoping it will be a quick fix.

 

Wanted to add...I see people are complaining about this when their engines are cold. I drove home about 35 miles when I checked it so my engine should be warmed up. Just additional info.

 

Mine whines too, but it hasn't bothered me really.

Does it go away in the higher RPM range?

 

I've only rev'ed it till about 3-4k in P and it definitely gets louder as RPM gets higher. At highway speeds, I can't hear it as well, but I can tell its there. The whine is probably drowned out by road noise. Once I get down to about 20 mph, and especially when I am making turns around street blocks, I hear it. But it correlates with RPM for sure...and also when I am turning the wheel.

 

could be the o-ring on the power steering pump which is a common problem and easy fix, but its usually more noticeable upon cold start up.

 

I checked this morning, 38 degrees outside. Started the car no noise. Did a few turns, nothing. The only times I've heard this noise was after my drive home... But other than that, everything else seems to point towards the much reported O-ring problem. My question is, can this O-ring problem occur after the engine has warmed up? And also, is the noise suppose to increase with the engine revving? I read one indication is to look into the steering fluid resevoir and check for air bubbles. I guess I will be doing that after my drive home today.. or maybe I'll just head straight to the dealership.

 

Brought it into the dealership. At first they try to rip me by telling me its the passenger side front tire. I told them I heard the noise when the car is still in P. Then after a few hours, they told me they changed the entire steering pump. Haven't heard a whine for a week so far..