Power steering make whining noise

[treeplant]

I noticed today that when I park the car or turn the wheels while driving very slow or in total stand still the power steering will make a small whining/whistling noise. Weird but it only makes the noise when I turn left not right. Few months ago I thought the PS level was a bit low so I topped it up, no it was not genuine honda power steering fluid, but it was not much and before I found out to only use genuine honda, could it be related and if so was that enough non honda fluid to damage my power steering? (the level was just below middle so I put enough to make the level go back up to middle, probably .5 cm) On the weekend im going to get genuine honda fluid and flush it, hopefully nothing got damaged :o

[Zilli]

i just had mine changed with genuine fluid and it fixed the whining i had before... but then i have changed it since the car was new and it gets tracked, so the fluid was F&*Ked... the issue with mine was that you waste a whole lot of oil flushing the system out as there is no way to drain the rack. I got a machnic mate who recently bought a machine that flushed and replaces oil at the same time, so you're not wasting a couple of litres of oil flushing it out

[treeplant]

aha I read the article on replacing the fluid and I was under the impression that nearly all of it can be pumped when the hose is attached to a catch can and the wheels are turned left to right, then it is a matter or replacing with new fluid aroud 1L. So how many L should I go through to flush the system properly?

[FAT VTI]

You shouldnt have to bleed the p/s for adding .5cm of a different p/s fluid. My opinion is that amount would not harm it all all, and if so very insignificant as its such a small amount. the whining noise is the pump, It's fairly normal, so long as it has fluid passing through it its fine. they begin to whine if they are passing air through them, in which case ur low on fluid, this SERIOUSLY damages the pump. How small is the whine? Personally, i wouldnt worry about it too much, It doesnt sound like its a constant LOUD whining noise, in which case the pump would be fkd.
Ive replaced my p/s pump twice, first time was because i had a leak and air passed through it. whined extremely loudly when not turning the wheel.
second time was becuase I replaced a bent pulley and it was cheaper to replace the pump as well.

The pump for a 94-97 lude is only around $40-$60 from a wrecker, very easy to install.
I don't know how you bleed a power steering system if you dont have the machine to suck it out from the top..?
when u say u drain it then turn the wheel, i hope u mean when the cars off, if not u start the car with no p/s fluid ur pump will whine alot louder.

[treeplant]

I cant find the write up now, but in the guide it said to syphon or pump out the fluid from the tank into a container, turn on the car quickly turn the wheel to the left and right which will pump out remaining fluid and turn off.

Now im getting mixed feelings about this. The whine isin't always there, it more sounds like like scratching your finger nail on a raincoat, and only to harder surfaces e.g won't happen on grass. Maybye ill just empty out the tank and replace with honda fluid as at least some new fluid will go in the system, would that make sense?

[FAT VTI]

take it to a shop man. I would be VERY scared to turn on my car with no p/s fluid.
when i first did it, people were telling me if I ran with a leak for like 2 seconds it could have passed enough air through it to fk it up.
Best way to do it, go buy ur fluid, take it to a shop they suck it out and put it back in for you. very simple process, and if u take ur own fluid (around $10-15 from honda) it won't cost you much at all.

[elijah]

I noticed today that when I park the car or turn the wheels while driving very slow or in total stand still the power steering will make a small whining/whistling noise. Weird but it only makes the noise when I turn left not right. Few months ago I thought the PS level was a bit low so I topped it up, no it was not genuine honda power steering fluid, but it was not much and before I found out to only use genuine honda, could it be related and if so was that enough non honda fluid to damage my power steering? (the level was just below middle so I put enough to make the level go back up to middle, probably .5 cm) On the weekend im going to get genuine honda fluid and flush it, hopefully nothing got damaged :o

My friend had this experience of steering noise. It happen when he changed the power steering fluid (http://www.car-stuff.com/powersteeringfluid.htm) into another brand, after couple of days, that noise came out of nowhere so my friend was worried and he immediately brought the car to Honda to have a mechanic check on it. The mechanic said it's possible about the other fluid so he pump it all out and replaced with genuine Honda steering fluid. After that, noise was gone. :)

[Sleepy.]

I got the same problem, mine whines at low speed when turning left and right.
a bad power steering pump i guess.. im using genuine honda fluid as well.