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Today while going to work when I tried to turn my car it made loud rubbing noises. Even if the car is stopped at a traffic signal and I try to move the wheels to either left or right the sound was coming.
I did some research on the web and some people said it was making noise because of cold weather. It is not that cold outside. I live in Houston, TX. Anyway, the sound went away in a while.
But, now I am worried what kind of sound was that and why did it come and why did it disappear after a while.
If it's a moaning sound, when you're turning the wheel, you're either low on power steering fluid, your pump is getting weak or (most likely) your rack & pinion steering pump is getting weak.
But I don't understand that if it was the power steering fluid then why did the sound go away after driving for 5 minutes OR after the car heats up.
I watched some more videos on the web and checked the power steering fluid and I can see there is little liquid in the attached bottle.
Any ideas!
Well... Here's the good news and the bad news.
Hopefully, you're just low on PS Fluid. Filling the reservoir will solve the problem.
The bad news is that the fluid is going somewhere. You probably have some sort of slow leak.
But here's some more good news... You can buy "power steering leak sealer," and sometimes it actually works! It might not work, but it's not going to harm anything, so it's worth a try. I've used Lucas Oil Power Steering Stop Leak. You can get it at pretty much any auto parts store. Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak : Lucas Oil
I cannot explain the technical details behind it, but the reason your power steering will moan when it's cold is because the fluid is thicker at lower temperatures.
Just ad PS fluid. Wait until it gets cold again then start it up and see if it makes the sound (which probably won't). Why go to meineke and pay someone to ad PS fluid. They probably will tell you you need a new PS pump.
Are you a fortune teller or something?? Because if you are you are 100% right! I took my car to Good Year since Meineke was busy. I told them about the noise and also told them to do a car service.
After 20 minutes they came out and told me that it is the pump that is leaking and I need to replace it. Now, I am not sure if they are lying or not but anyways.
So, I came home after the service and I checked the steering wheel fluid and it seems to be below the min. This is kinda strange because I told them to fill up the steering wheel fluid.
Does anyone knows how much should I fill? There is min and then there is max. Also, my car is Nissan Altima 2000 which steering fluid should I use?
Also, they said it is going to cost $600 to replace the pump and the pipe that goes to the pump!!!
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