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Noise when turning the steering wheel

L

LilCe98

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
2,030
Location
Richmond, VA
I've been having an issue with hearing noises when I turn the steering wheel for some time now. At first it just sounded like steering pump whine when you lock the wheel. It usually only happened when it was cold outside and when away when the car warmed up. Now its much worst. Not only is there a whine when its cold but it sounds like there is metal on metal rubbing. It makes noise at the slightest turn and doesn't go away even when the car is warm. I believe its gotten so loud that you can probably hear it from outside the car. I don't drive the car often anymore so I've let the problem slide until I go more funds but now its time to take car of it. Steering pump? Bearings? Any suggestions before I take it in to the shop?

Thanks
{J}
 
Is it sort of a squeeking noise? I have the same problem. Thought it might be tie rod ends squeeking? Have to raise it up and check things out I guess. I'll check power steering fluid too.
 
Check PS fluid. If it smells unusually burnt or shows metallic flakes in the light, the pump is most likely shot.

Next, jack up the car, turn the wheels side to side and see if the noise is still present. The upper strut mount bearings could squeek, pop and grind if they are shot. I got away with packing new grease into mine on my '95 to avoid replacing them. The strut will have to be disassembled to do this.

If it's the pump, replacement is easy.
-position a jack under the oil pan (I know, terrible idea) and JUST SLIGHTLY lift the motor so you can stack wood blocks under and lower the jack so the motor sits on the blocks.
-Move the coolant tank out of the way
-Unbolt the motor mount from the engine and body
-Before removing the belt, break the 4 10mm pulled bolts loose.
-Loosen the tension on the belt at the auto tensioner
-Remove the pulley bolts the rest of the way, the pulley will have to wiggle loose.
-Use line wrenches to break the pressure line loose. USE CAUTION! Twisting the lines to break it loose could bend or kink the hard line if not done with care.
-Remove (I think 7?) bolts and the pump will come straight out of the valley.
-Install in reverse order. The plate may have to be transferred to the new pump. It also may take some finagling to get the pump to sit square against the plate while also lined up in its home in the block.
-Remember to tighten the pulley bolts hand-tight and then the rest of the way once the belt is back on!
-With the motor mount out of the way, this might be a good time to replace the idler pulley and auto-tensioner pulley. To remove the tensioner, you will need a torx bit and and 8mm wrench to fit between the body and engine.

Good luck!
 
greasemonkey1489 said:
Check PS fluid. If it smells unusually burnt or shows metallic flakes in the light, the pump is most likely shot.

Next, jack up the car, turn the wheels side to side and see if the noise is still present. The upper strut mount bearings could squeek, pop and grind if they are shot. I got away with packing new grease into mine on my '95 to avoid replacing them. The strut will have to be disassembled to do this.

If it's the pump, replacement is easy.
-position a jack under the oil pan (I know, terrible idea) and JUST SLIGHTLY lift the motor so you can stack wood blocks under and lower the jack so the motor sits on the blocks.
-Move the coolant tank out of the way
-Unbolt the motor mount from the engine and body
-Before removing the belt, break the 4 10mm pulled bolts loose.
-Loosen the tension on the belt at the auto tensioner
-Remove the pulley bolts the rest of the way, the pulley will have to wiggle loose.
-Use line wrenches to break the pressure line loose. USE CAUTION! Twisting the lines to break it loose could bend or kink the hard line if not done with care.
-Remove (I think 7?) bolts and the pump will come straight out of the valley.
-Install in reverse order. The plate may have to be transferred to the new pump. It also may take some finagling to get the pump to sit square against the plate while also lined up in its home in the block.
-Remember to tighten the pulley bolts hand-tight and then the rest of the way once the belt is back on!
-With the motor mount out of the way, this might be a good time to replace the idler pulley and auto-tensioner pulley. To remove the tensioner, you will need a torx bit and and 8mm wrench to fit between the body and engine.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Wow thanks a lot for the detailed how to on this. Unfortunately I don't have the space to work on anything like this myself (living in the city). Hopefully that will change soon. I'm sure this will come in handy later or for someone else.

If I just need to add PS fluid do I need to flush or can I just top it off?

Thanks again

{J}
 
So I took a look under the hood and it looks like there is steering fluid in the reservoir. I can only assume now that its the pump. Also i went to advance auto looking for fluid and they said that its a special fluid from Ford. Does that sound right?

Thanks,

{J}
 
LilCe98 said:
So I took a look under the hood and it looks like there is steering fluid in the reservoir. I can only assume now that its the pump. Also i went to advance auto looking for fluid and they said that its a special fluid from Ford. Does that sound right?

Thanks,

{J}
Click to expand...

According to the manual it's Mercon Power Steering fluid (Ford PN# E6AZ-19582-AA), so it's possible it's only available via dealer network. I'm not sure if anyone else makes a Mercon PS fluid. Looking at the manual it does not appear that this is the same as Mercon ATF (For PN# XT-2-QDX). I can't speak as to if these two fluids would be compatible or not.
 
Last edited:
With my Cougar, adding PS fluid made the pump noisy. I siphoned all the fluid I could get out of it and used synthetic ATF. It's all good now.
 
Thanks for all the help. I'll look into draining the fluid and then replacing it with the ATF fluid to see if that helps. Hopefully the pump won't have to be replaced.
 
my atf fluid turned the same color in about 15k miles. i was told i need to keep flushing the system til its got. so i bought a gallon of atf fluid. about half was used for the first time. whih leaves me to flush it one more time
 
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