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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Whining noise from engine bay, thinking power steering pump?


ATB

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I have been having some issues with the steering on my car. When it`s raining outside the hydraulic steering pump will make a lot of whining noise but when it`s dry there is less noise. Lately the steering when at a standstill and at slow speeds has become harder. I do not exactly know what it is and how to find out what it is...

 

- Auxiliary belt or tensioner going bad?

- Wrong fluid in the power steering system?

- Is there a wheel bearing in the pump that can go bad?

- Could it be the crank pulley going bad?

- Or should I replace the whole pump?

 

The car only has 35k Miles on the clock.

 

Here is a video when the car is at idle, the sound in the video is higher then what it actually is but I suppose it's not a bad thing when diagnosing it :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugAbHjwRWmc

 

Also how do I embed a Youtube video directly into my forum post?

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I'm just in the process of sorting mine out, and yes it sounds exactly like that, I already have a spare second hand one that I have just sent off to Chris Wilson to be re-furbished, (Chris is a trader on the site, have a look for his name, he only excepts email, no PMs) so it will be top line when I change it over.

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Did the test and it seems to be all good, thankfully. Did the test with steering left to right while engine was running and with ac on and off. Noticed when turning the wheel the whining gets a lot worse and at full left/right turn its very high.

 

The tippex line isn't 100% straight as it was a tad hard to reach :p

 

Before starting the engine:

image

After:

image

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NEVER hold a PAS equipped car against the lock stops, it loads the pump up to the point the pressure relief valve opens and old pumps do not like this, it also creates a lot of heat in the fluid. The pump will whine when held against the lock stops as you are hearing very high pressure, high volume fluid being forced through a small bypass orifice.

 

You might try removing the PAS fluid reservoir and flushing it out from bottom to top with petrol, thinners or brake cleaner. there's a fine nylon gauze filter in the reservoir and they choke up with debris on old cars, then the pump cavitates as it's sucking against a restriction and draws air. they then make noise. Also check the rubber O ring on the pipe stub on the pump. the stub is bolted on with a single 6mm thread, 10mm hex size bolt and pulls out to reveal the ring. I think i have new rings in stock. if the O ring is split, perished or hard, again the pump will draw air.

 

DO NOT poke at the gauze in the reservoir it's VERY easy to poke a hole in it....

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Okay, you learn something new everyday! I won't do that anymore... I will have to order dexron 2 oil before I can flush out the reservoir as there are no stores here that sell that. I might as well flush out the entire system. Is 2 liters enough for that? And are there any brands that are recommended?

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NEVER hold a PAS equipped car against the lock stops, it loads the pump up to the point the pressure relief valve opens and old pumps do not like this, it also creates a lot of heat in the fluid. The pump will whine when held against the lock stops as you are hearing very high pressure, high volume fluid being forced through a small bypass orifice.

 

You might try removing the PAS fluid reservoir and flushing it out from bottom to top with petrol, thinners or brake cleaner. there's a fine nylon gauze filter in the reservoir and they choke up with debris on old cars, then the pump cavitates as it's sucking against a restriction and draws air. they then make noise. Also check the rubber O ring on the pipe stub on the pump. the stub is bolted on with a single 6mm thread, 10mm hex size bolt and pulls out to reveal the ring. I think i have new rings in stock. if the O ring is split, perished or hard, again the pump will draw air.

 

DO NOT poke at the gauze in the reservoir it's VERY easy to poke a hole in it....

Sorry, quick thread jack...got in me car today, pulled away to find I had no power steering . But there was no noise ? Fluid is good. Not long had crank pully donw

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Flushed out of the fluid reservoir and bleed the system today, topped it off with Dex VI. Whining noice went away, but it does still make some noise. Steering got much heavier, feeling like I don't have any when moving at speed. I also read in the manual to pinch a hose from the pump that goes to the manifold with steering at lock to see if engine RPM changes. Nothing changed what so ever, but it will start stalling if I disconnect the hose from inlet manifold. So I do not know what to do now before I get the second pump and try to change that and change all the fluid in the system.

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Flushed out of the fluid reservoir and bleed the system today, topped it off with Dex VI. Whining noice went away, but it does still make some noise. Steering got much heavier, feeling like I don't have any when moving at speed. I also read in the manual to pinch a hose from the pump that goes to the manifold with steering at lock to see if engine RPM changes. Nothing changed what so ever, but it will start stalling if I disconnect the hose from inlet manifold. So I do not know what to do now before I get the second pump and try to change that and change all the fluid in the system.

Have you got any power steering at all. If you haven't. Have you checked the fuse

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It takes 24 hours without the pump running for all the air that gets drawn in to disperse, try it the next day. There is ecu speed control that affects PAS effort required, increasing the effort needed at speed. The solenoid valve in the rack can stick giving heavy(ish) parking and slow moving effort. The pinch hose stuff I guess is a test to see if the idle speed rise solenoid is working. Above a certain pump pressure a hydraulically operated valve in the pump output union bleeds air from in front tof the throttle butterfly, to the engine side, raising the idle speed to stop stalling when manoeuvring.

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I checked back on the car today and the steering is very heavy and the car is not idling right. No bubbles in the system at all.

 

Normally it will go to 1800-1900 rpm when cold and slowly decrease in rpm while getting hotter. Now it cranks and starts at 1100 rpm and goes down to 400-500 rpm right away. I did not remove any vacuum lines when flushing the reservoir. But I did disconnect the connectors on the boxes on the shock tower (igniter and one more box) and bent the harness away to get access to the reservoir. I did however find a small rubber cap under there that I don't know where it belongs. So I don't really know how to go from here.

Edited by ATB (see edit history)
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