Avantadrive_Original

Great, just after I think everything is ducky with my new timing belt, serpentine belt tensioner, etc. (just a week ago)...

Go out this morning and start the car up for a brief warm-up prior to leaving (about 15F degrees out). Car sounded fine on startup. Come back outside 10 minutes later, and there's an audible whine from the front end. Wine gets higher pitched with engine revvs initially, then disappears, then reappears at lower engine revs. Whine also gets louder/higher pitched when steering wheel turned.

Drive the car about 1/8 mile, then stop and check the PS fluid. Plenty of it, but it was FROTHY... looked like a recently opened can of soda in there, no exaggeration. Color was sort of brownish.

Like a fool (I had no other choice), I decided to drive it a little further to see what happened. Fortunately, the sound went away and the car drove perfectly normally the rest of the day (including lots of stop / go, and frequent shutdowns and startups) with absolutely no trace of noise.

So is my PS pump on the way out? If so, anyone know if this is a tough fix? My un-educated guess is that the pump was seized (partially due to cold perhaps?) this morning, so my belt was straining against it causing the noise... Then after driving it down the road a bit, the part warmed up and unseized, causing relief of the symptoms. If that is the case, I'm sure I've already damaged the serp belt and the pump even further...

Audi Junkie

I would not worry about the noise beyond just flushing the PSF. Srsly.

Avantadrive_Original

that my car has had a loud power steering groan at low speeds since the day she was born. I don't even notice that anymore. But that's decidedly NOT what this noise was... This noise was directly related to both engine speed and turning the wheel at low speed, and was a different sound altogether than the loud groan I usually experience. Not sure if that changes your thinking at all.

I would definitely like to do a flush of the PSF though, if you could point me in the right direction of how to do that I'd appreciate it.

Audi Junkie

at the reservior, actually either one works, but lets shoot for the rack out, that is not the pump in. What to do is extend that rack-out hose down to a drain container, a clear hose is best. Let the reservior drain (into a small jar or whatever) and then cap the open hole with some tin foil.

I like to do this w/o the engine running, so un cork the coil packs or whatever. Have someone crank the engine and (re)fill the reservior with fresh fluid as the old is pumped out. I don't give a crap about turning the steering wheel back and forth, but some people do. I'd just assume flush it twice and drive inbetween than go thru the trouble of jacking the front end up or whatever people do.

Anyway, I like synth PSF like ATF+4 Universal or Mobil 1 instead of Pentosin. If you never lost any fluid in service, hey, go for the Pentosin again ($22/l) but to be able to flush it agian and again for $3/q "generic" ATF+4 or $6 Mobil 1 is great and it works a lot better.

Go ahead and read some write-ups on the procedure. A good 1x a year job.

Avantadrive_Original

Thanks! I will definitley do this soon