Power steering system noise?

[Ian R.]

I had not thought of that! I ended up buying a new one. It came in today, hope it works!

[originalkwyjibo]

Dang. I sharpen things with files and grinding wheels for work so my brain automatically goes to "Can I fix it?" on those types of things first.

[Ian R.]

Well to be honest I thought about hammering it out. But that usually does not end well.

[Ian R.]

Well I took a closer look at the PS pump. I found that there is a dent in the PS pump pulley v-groove. This dent makes a bump where the belt slots into the pulley. I think the noise that I am hearing is chatter from the belt tracking over the dent in the pulley. A new pulley is 170$ uggh! There is a van at a salvage yard near me, but they won’t sell the pulley alone and want 120.00 for the pulley and pump.

The new pulley resolved the noise. Wow what a difference! While I was at it I replaced the PS return hose with 19/32 PCV hose and took apart the reservoir and cleaned the screen. After I was finished the PS pump was making a terrible noise and found out that I had foamed the ATF fluid. I ended up needing to go through the process of removing the air in the lines. The manual describes the method pretty well. It took starting and stopping the motor 10 times to get most of it out. It took about 2 extra quarts of ATF fluid to complete this process. I think STP ATF fluid STPDEXMERC1Q is a good product to use when looking for a substitute for DEX II. It says suitable for applications where DEX II and III are called for.