A84Nate

Lately, I've noticed a grinding noise coming from my car when turning at low speeds (like when parking). It's not a whining noise as indicated by low PS fluid but a grinding/clicking. There is no vibration in the car or steering wheel and the car drives just fine. It doesn't clunk over bumps in the road, steering is tight with no slack, but sometimes I notice a slight vibration when breaking from highway speeds but my tire tread isn't even so I don't think it's related. It's been in the mid 30s to low 40s in the morning when I leave and that is when I hear the grinding. After the car warms up the noise is gone. What could this be? The car was taken in for service this morning for CEL so I can't comment on the PS fluid level but like I said, it's different from the low PS whine others describe.

lyleswk

You are describing classic PS problem, whether it is low fluid, wrong fluid (I would put this high on the list by the way since you are a little sketchy on the car history), or pump issue. Slow speeds are where you have the most effort required to turn the wheels and the fluid is thicker when cold, both resulting in the pump "working" harder.

A84Nate

So what course of action would you suggest I take to determine what the problem is...besides looking to see how much fluid there is?

lyleswk

I would do 2 things, both of which I have not done but will be doing while I replace my rack over the Christmas break:

1) Replace the clamp in the subject thread. Apparently the stock one has a tendency to loosen up and allow air into the pump and cavitate it, hence the "mating whales" sound:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...power+steering

2) Drain and flush with known proper fluid. It needs to be a "mineral" based PS fluid. I looked around a bit at the auto parts stores I frequent and couldn't find an off the shelf "mineral" based one, so I would go online or to the dealer to get some. Others may have recommendations as far as fluid.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...power+steering

A84Nate

Thanks a million for your response, it was very helpful and I'm sure it is exactly what I need. I was worried I would have to replace the steering pump/rack or an axle but this is perfect. YOU ROCK!

lyleswk

Always start easy and then go hard. By the way, a bad rack is usually indicated by a leak, not noise.

Good luck.

jordonb

X2

i didn't know better with my old B5, and so i added some generic ps fluid to my reservoir, and within a couple weeks, my ps pump was wailing like a raped ape.... took it into a local indy euro car shop, and the guy asked if i had topped up the fluid recently... when i told him, he asked if i used the proper "expensive stuff"... he said he would flush the system and put in the good stuff and hopefully it would be ok... it was.
thankfully!
he warned me that the cheap normal stuff would wreck the pump.