Redneck Truck

That's it. What'd I do and how do I fix it?

jhuffman

how did you clean the bay?

Redneck Truck

Simple Green, water hose, plastic brush. Lots of water, though. Removed 6 of 8 coils and blew quite a bit of condensation out of them, now the engine runs smoothly again.

The power steering noise seems to be related to taking a turn in a lower gear (i.e. 30mph left turn at 4000rpm). Is this a pump wear issue or some relay? Or is the pump possibly sucking in air under load at high speed? There were a lot of bubbles when I opened the reservoir after turning off the engine. To answer the obvious question, the fluid is full and doesn't smell burned.

audi01a6

let it dry out and then take a nice test drive,

01 2.7t

Go to autozone or pep boys or any other store and get a can of "belt dressing spray". Just spray some of that on your belts.

spoon2000

What does the PS fluid level read when the car is cold first thing in the morning? Usually bubbles happen when the PS fluid level gets low somehow and the pump starts churning air along with fluid. And how long have you driven it after the cleaning? Usually when my PS fluid drops and I get a noise, it takes 20 minutes or so of driving after topping up for all the noise to disappear.

Redneck Truck

That sounds like a terrible idea. That, and the belt isn't making noise - the pump is.

Redneck Truck

The level says full whenever I check it, though I don't believe I've ever checked it cold. The fluid level hasn't changed since I bought the car.

I was thinking the bubbles might get in through a crack in a line that used to seal because of all the gunk built up on it. Is it possible that, after removing the gunk, I've created an invisible suction side leak that's letting air in?

jhuffman

I read the other day on another audi forum (or maybe it was here, I dont remember) that the clamps audi used for the hoses can over time create small suction points because of the way they apply pressure to a hose. Check your clamps, you probably cleaned the gunk and exposed one such point. Eventually though, look into replacing those stupid 1 use clamps with normal hose clamps.

spoon2000

I would check it cold. Odds are those bubbles are coming from the PS pump impeller churning air into the fluid. If the level is where it's supposed to be in the reservoir, then I'd agree with others that you probably exposed a leak somewhere in the system that's allowing air in to mix with your hydraulic fluid. You might also pull the plastic belly pan off the bottom of the engine and see if you've got a recent hydraulic fluid stain on it.