Power steering whinning.

[johnt785]

What is it about late 80's early 90's Ford cars and their power steering?

My dad owned a '89 Cougar, and that thing whinned like a dog who got its leg caught in a bear trap.

I own a '90 Mercury Grand Marquis and it also whins badly when driven slow.

My 90 stang whines just the same. All three of these cars make this howling whinning sound when driven slow (5mph) and turning.

Immeditaly you would think that it just needs more Fluid. But thats not it, we kept them leveled off with fluid.

Anyone also experience this annoyance with their late 80's early 90's Ford?

John

 

[83GT289]

yep. just about anyone who owns one hears that whine. Sucks don't it ?

 

[xplo89gt]

Yep slight whinning is definately common. But when it is louder than usual it usually needs fluid. And it obviously will whine the most when turning at low speeds as it is much harder to turn the wheels.

 

[bt15]

One of the bigger factors affecting this phenomenon is the fact that the case / reservoir is a one piece, plastic design on many of these pumps. It allows the sound of the pump itself to seem much louder than if it were made of a less resonant material. Replacing the pump with an aftermarket, metal housing(ed) pump will cure that noise.

 

[johnt785]

BT15- Thanks man, I was waiting to hear an explaination. I figured almost everyone has this annoyance. Wish Ford would have thought up another design with a harder casing so we all wouldn't have to put up with this sound.

So the actual sound that we're hearing is coming from the fluid that is being pumped in the reservoir?

 

[PonyBoy90]

Ford no doubt was aware that a metal pump would quiet things down. However, they wanted to keep production costs low so that's why they installed the plastic ones.

 

[deftsound]

yea i used to have a 94 explorer, had the same power steering issues my stang has. I recently had to put in a new rack and pinion in my mustang because fluid was dumping out the boot

 

[DMAN302]

I have heard of many attempts to replace a loud pump, often the result is $ spent and sound remaining. I did find that Lucas stop leak really quieted mine down..of coarse I have a rack leak, but you could give it a try.

 

[Michael Yount]

My replacement pump was LOUDER than the one I took off. I just tell 'em it's the supercharger.

 

[PonyBoy90]

Guys, I'm in the market to replace my entire rack and pinion as I to developed a leak from the driverside boot. It's not too bad yet, just I'm tired of having to top-up all the time and I don't want to be driving 120km/hr when the whole rack goes.

My question is, what brand replacement racks did you all go with? Did you guys end up replacing everything including the pump and hoses when you swapped your set-up or did you just replace the racks?

Myself, I was looking into going with a Steeda power rack and pinion. I'm still thinking whether or not to replace the pump also.

Thanks

 

[HISSIN50]

Guys, I'm in the market to replace my entire rack and pinion as I to developed a leak from the driverside boot. It's not too bad yet, just I'm tired of having to top-up all the time and I don't want to be driving 120km/hr when the whole rack goes.

My question is, what brand replacement racks did you all go with? Did you guys end up replacing everything including the pump and hoses when you swapped your set-up or did you just replace the racks?

Myself, I was looking into going with a Steeda power rack and pinion. I'm still thinking whether or not to replace the pump also.

Thanks

i replaced it all - rack, pump and hoses. i did retain the stock cooler.

i used parts store stuff. you can just replace one or the other if you want. i would carefully flush all the fluid anytime any component is renewed.

good luck.

 

[wesl56]

well shoot, the pumps in the 99+ stangs howl too... mine had just been getting louder and louder it seemed recently (and only 41k miles ) and i had some free time today so i bought some valvoline synthetic ps fluid... the only way i could see to get the fluid out was to pull off the low pressure hose off the rack and let it drain... so i did taht, filled the resivour, and drove... repeated this several times until the fluid looked better..... i used about a quart and a half, and i could prolly do it some more...

my pump quieted down A LOT... its not totally silent tho, i can still hear it at idle and when turning slowly, but it isnt near as bad as it was before.. so if you got some free time you may wanna try doing that.... it cant hurt im just waiting to see how long before it starts whining again lol

 

[4dStang]

My 95 was whining like a half kild cat a while back. I swore the pump was making the noise, so I got a new pump (like a dumb a**). Well, it still whined, not as bad (it had new fluid), but still whined. Then I decided to change the intermediate pulley from a nice aluminum (Wazee) billet pulley, which seemed to be wearing in the middle.

But, i'd be GD if I could find stock style Motorcraft plastic pulley with the ridges at the parts stores. Part stores all sold a steel smooth pulley and that ate my belt as it slid off into the alternater, twice. Took that pulley back and went to latemodel restoration supply catalog. Twenty bucks later, I had the pulley I wanted and no more squeek. Thank the lord, no more squeek!!!


Moral of the story, not all squeeks are power steering related.

 

[Michael Yount]

Seems to me there's quite a difference in sound between the whine the pump makes - which many of us know and have come to love - and the squeal of a belt slipping on a pulley.

But I'm glad yours is working out for you.

 

[jerry beach]

Our 04 whines too. Its a V6, but its a common ford thing. I started to notice it a few weeks back. I will check the fluid. It has 7500 mi on it now, and it says not to check the auto tranny fluid till 15,000mi. Thats sick, I checked it after I got it home with 50 mi. on it.