Hey Guys,

Last night, about 10 minutes into a fairly spirited backroad drive I noticed the steering was making a faint whining sound anytime I turned the wheel to take a corner. By the time I finished the tighter section of my course, about another 10 minutes later, the whining sound was pronounced enough to have me concerned, especially when I had to make a U turn at low speed.

After about 10 minutes of "normal" driving on my way home the sound went away completely was perfectly quiet again.

Most of my drive was second and third gears between 4 and 6k rpm if that makes any difference.

Any ideas on what may have been causing this? I enjoy having a little fun with my cars once in a while and don't want to have to worry about it. I did notice that I was getting some belt squeal in the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts now that I have done a 1x3 with the Redline type F. Maybe the whine could be from a slipping drive belt?

Thanks

 

Could be the steering maybe? Have you ever had that o-ring replaced?

 

I did actually get the dealer to replace the O ring for me free of charge, as I was getting a somewhat similar whining sound from the steering on very cold starts. That was done just this past winter. I would think that they would have checked everything in the steering hoping to find something to charge me for if they could have, lol.

 

^^^ when the car warms up check the PS reservoir to see if you have bubbles in it....if the reservoir has bubbles, means your PS system has a leak....

but for the while from spirited driving, I would suggest looking at the tensioner....doubt the PS system would whine while spirited driving

 

I will check this tonight after my drive home from work. Do you think there is any chance my power steering pump/fluid was overheating from making so many turns, or is that unlikely?

I just can't figure out why it went away with normal driving. Also, no noise at all today driving to work and lunch...

Thanks for the replies

 

^^^ if the whine is from the PS then:
1> either there is a leak which is causing bubbles or
2> fluid level is lowww

i dont think i have ever seen the PS pump heating up....i have a 160K miles on my 05 and I drive that baby around everywhere....never had a problem with the pump heating up

 

In the old days, some steering pumps were insufficient to keep up with the steering/countersteering patterns in certain autocross layouts, but I never saw any overheating of the PS fluid.
My TL did fine in an auto-X a couple of months ago, so I'd first suspect low PS fluid in your case.

Also try checking the belt that drives the PS pump-- belt slippage may account for your TL's symptoms, esp. if you also experienced belt squeal.

 

First, check the PS fluid level. Next, start the car and open the reservoir. Turn the wheel from side to side and look for bubbles. Look for signs of leaking fluid, i.e. oil or liquid black soot on the inside of the engine bay, oil on lower control arm, oil dripping from oil pan, oil on serpentine belt, etc. It is best to look for bubbles when engine is cold. Good luck!

 

If your car is modded, include the mods.