Power Steering Moan
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DenverQ
- Posts: 396
- Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2002 1:23 pm
- Car: Tryin to make a living, Driving/Fixing my Q and my Beautiful Baby girl =)
Power Steering Moan
I got my Service manual and it has a bunch of tests I can run for my power steering. I was wondering if the power steering is actaully in "fail safe" mode which means according to the manual that its give the power assist eqivialnt to going 112mph, or is it actually failed casue of the moan. Would it still moan if it was in this mode or should just run all the tests anyways and see. Thanks for the info
Moans from a Q are definitely not good. Last time I heard a P/S moan, I had to get a new P/S hose. Dealer cost: $125.So what is the verdict? I just drove my 94 to New Orleans and back -- about 1100 miles. Got 23 mpg at mostly 80 mph. However, same symptoms as yours on the return home. Definately a bearing noise (intermittent click/squeel), but a low harmonic moan too. Power steering works fine, no leaks, and full of clean fluid. I think the bearing is in one of the left two tensioner pully's -- hopefully the moan is there too! Difficult to pin point the sound with the thing running and I cannot get a bar down there to listen. Tell us what you find.
Climbed under last night -- definately the tension pulley for the alternator. The tensioner for the AC is just starting to go as it has a very slight tick. Just ordered those two and the one for the power steering belt from Scottsdale. May as well repalce all three at once and its an easy deal. I also found that you can order just the pully and not the whole assembly. Both the local dealer and Scottsdale quoted the whole thing, so unless you need the mount, be sure to ask just for the pully. The bearing that is what actually malfunctions is pressed into the pully and come with it. You save about 40 to 50% by ordering it seperate.
Pullys arrived from Az yesterday. Replaced all three last night. The power steering tensioner was the worst -- almost frozen when turning by hand. The alternator pully was rough and the AC pully was OK with a slight tick. Much better now! The AC and alternator pully's took about 25 mins. after I removed the bottom cover from the car. Very easy to get to. That time included cleaning the grit off the pully covers and spacer-washers. Got to keep them clean! The powers terring pully took about 25 min. as it was slightly harder to get to and put back on. The entire repair took about 1.5 hours from pulling the car into the garage, jacking it up, replacing, putting tools away and backing the car out. Easy deal.
Feels the same, but I did not have a problem with the PS. However, that binding pully surely put some unnecessary stress on the PS pump pully. As the engine cranks the belt around, the resistance of the defective pully added to the load. Hopefully, no significant damage was sustained by the PS pump pully -- that is a much harder and more expensive show! While I was under there I did check the PS hoses and connections -- all looks clean with the exception of a little spilled oil from filter changes. It all cleaned up nicely. Quiet and smooth today!
Same thing happened to me with the power steering moan. The idler pulley was stiff as a board and I also replaced the power steering pump. I got a used one on car-parts.com for about 65 bucks. Not a bad deal. Also, I was also mistaking a whining transmission for whining power steering. If you're still having problems go ahead and put more transmission fluid in.
Nick
Nick