CEB

Some of you might recall the "siren" noise my car emitted until it fully warmed up. It was rev dependent. After I wrote and got your suggestions, I went by my dealer who initially thought it might be the secondary cooling fan. On listening some more, though, he diagnosed the power steering pump (fluid was low) and sent me away with a bottle of fluid until they could properly look at it.

Over the following week, the fluid level dropped again (quite dramatically - fine one day - very low the next) and the siren came and went. No visible fluid leaks anywhere.

On Friday the shop had a look at it and could find nothing wrong. The service rep told me that he would have thought I was imagining things had he not verified the low fluid level himself. He is at a loss to where the fluid is going. He thinks it might be leaking into the boots, but he can't just open them up to see. He opines that it won't do any damage until the boot fills with enough fluid to leak - in which case they'll know where the fluid went......

They also balanced my tires on a hunter machine and found excessive road force on all tires (between 22 and 59lbs) - is that a claim thing with Continental or just normal wear? I posted this on the tire forum but that place is dead.....

They also exorcised a rattle behind my glove box.

I have to give Rockville Audi good points this time. The tech was helpful, friendly and the car was done on time. Enterprise gave me Volvo S40 as a loaner that wasn't too bad. Heavy steering at parking speeds, noisy motor and a little cramped for my 6'4" frame but certainly much better than the PT Cruiser from last time. I was a little surprised to see a switchblade key/remote. On the positive side, the gas mileage was great (I hate that Enterprise "bring it back with the same amount of gas" policy) and the radio reception was much better than ours - DC's news radio is on both AM and FM and I have to switch between then when driving the George Washington Parkway to hear it - the Volvo radio got a strong signal on either AM or FM - what's up with that?????

PaulW

It just doesn't go nowhere, I'm very surprised it's not just dripping everywhere.

Be careful how much fluid you put in there, you could be causing damage to some other component by it filling up!

Good luck.

pw

CEB

...that's why they think it's going into one of the CV boots. The undercarriage is drier than sand - no drips in my garage at home or the office......

Potomac-Greg

What does excessive road force mean?

CEB

....I didn't know either. Road force is apparently simplified into "bounce force" as the pressure on the tire each time the "flat spot" bounces on the pavement......

PaulW

CV Boots? Hydraulic fluid cannot go in there. No way.

There are boots on the steering rack, and this is a common place for leaks on an old Audi steering system. If your dealer said boots, that's probably what he meant.

pw

CEB

Brain dump -- of course steering rack boots.

Potomac-Greg

... would be put under a typical load while being spun (hence the "force" of the "road").

CEB

...the force at which out of round spots hit the asphalt.....