Power Steering Noise - Please Help!

[chillicatqld]

Hi all - need some help please...

My VYII SS has always had a bit of power steering noise (slightly whiny)
But as of 3 days ago - when I start up cold and drive it sounds absolutely terrible!!
When the car heats up a bit after 5 or so minutes of driving the noise reduces (but still is slighlty louder than it usually was). If you turn the steering wheel you can make it do the noise heaps more - thats why I am thinking it is power steering fluid?

When you look at the fluid bottle with the engine running it is slightly bubbly and frothy on top... is this normal?

Am I leaking air in the system - is the cap meant to be super tight (cause mine does not seem to be). Or should I try and get the fluid changed to fix the problem.... it sounds rather scary when you first start it. If so, what is best fluid? Dextron III like it says in the user guide - or will something else fix the noise issue?

cheers for any help - will help me choose right path of repair.

[planetdavo]

Is the bottle about half full?
If it's near the bottom when turned off, it is too low, and will suck in air when running. This is the most common cause of this situation. Also check all clamps to be safe. The cap doesn't need to be tight. It's only there to keep muck out, stop the oil splashing out, and to give a little dipstick to read the level.

[chillicatqld]

thanks planetdavo - levels are all OK.
am waiting for car to cool down to check clamp tighness.
Have noticed that the bottle itself has a little fluid (dirty) on it - maybe the bottle has got a small split even... will do a thorough search.

went in this arvo and pulled all the airbox etc out so I could ighten alll clamps.
Surprise surprise - all three clamps off the power steering reservoir were all "loose".( aright pain to get too and tighten is the bottom one - but I could easily lift it off the metal tube it connected to!!)
At this stage it looks like it has stopped the bubbling and frothing inside the reservoir - and the noise has quitened down - well still not totally silent, but more like how it has always been.
Am gonna try and replace allfluid and see if it quitens it down even more - anyone suggest a better fluid than the recommended Dextron III. Will a thicker viscosity fluid help quiten things down more??

dont know why I got a double merge there - but sorry for the spelling mistakes above - I couldnt get back in and fix them...

[Ryan1982]

Hi.. i had this problem as well..i put a recon pump on because the seal at the front of the pump tend to go on these and suck air.. anyway replaced the pump.. noise still there..went to holden got a new resivior and hose to the pump... flushed oil with new DEXTRON III and all good.. just make sure u turn lock to lock b4 u start the car with new fluid and agian a few time when its running.. and should be fine...if it winging its sucking air from either the front of the pump or between the resivior and the pump...hope this helps

[chillicatqld]

hey Ryan - what do you mean when you say "just make sure u turn lock to lock b4 u start the car with new fluid and agian a few time when its running"? you just mean make sure the cap is in - or is there some "lock" I am missing?

anyone explain the correct way to bleed/change power steer fluid. Is it a job a that someone can perform? cheers

[planetdavo]

Jacking the car up and turning the steering wheel lock to lock a few times usually bleeds trapped air out of the system (assuming any issue has been fixed).

[Ryan1982]

yeah what he said lol^^^^^^^^^..sorry should have explained it a bit better

[JezzaB]

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[chillicatqld]

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what does that mean?


Cold start today seems a hell of alot better! I think tightening it all seemed to has worked so far... still got that slight noise that has always been present, thinking the fluid change may help? Anyone tell me how to bleed/change fluid? :wave:

[planetdavo]

Fluid change shouldn't really help, unless the fluid has burnt a brown colour, not it's usual red.

[Phantom_Menace]

I had a similar problem to you chili-, I found after a power steering flush it was still a little noisy. Then I noticed the bottle was very loose so I cable tied the hoses back to the lifting point on the motor (next to bottle) and its very firm with no noise. Hope this helps you out mate.

Phantom,

[steane]

The power steering on every Commodore I've had VT,VX and now VZ have all been noisy and all three leaked from new. Hopefully this is something they fixed with VE...