Last night I noticed my car became significantly more difficult to steer at lower speeds and started making a whining noise. When I got home, I opened up the hood and noticed fluid had leaked from the cap of the power steering reservoir, down the side of it, and into the engine bay. As it was late I simply tightened the cap as hard as I could and left it for the night.

This morning on the way to work it was still whining but seemed less difficult to steer, though it is still noticeably difficult when going through slow maneuvers such as parking.

Do you guys think I need to just refill my fluid or am I in need of a new pump or something?

 

Well I checked the fluid level on my lunch break after the car had sat for almost 5 hours and it looked full.

Now I'm thinking it's the pump, but I'll take it to my usual shop and have it diagnosed first

 

And it was officially diagnosed as the pump.

I was told I can find my own part and they will just charge me $120 (2 hours labor) to install it. Is this an easy enough job to tackle in my driveway?

If anyone has done this before or knows where to find a step-by-step guide I'd appreciate some feedback

 

If the pump has ground up and pumped steel particles around the rest of the system you may have more problems than just the pump. You may have to clean out or replace the power steering unit as well. You might try poking a magnet taped to a stick down into the oil tank. If you get a lot of magnetic dust then likely you have a larger problem.

Pete.

 

I certainly hope this hasn't happened! Right now I'm about to pull the trigger on a $46 used pump with a 6 month warranty and have my shop install it for me, unless it's an easy job but I haven't heard from anyone who's done it.

I'm not convinced it has completely failed yet because I can hear it whining and it does provide some assistance to steering. The only time I really have to use brute force to turn the wheel is when dry steering or right after backing up out of a spot and switching to drive while turning the wheel

 

I would check and make sure there is no shavings in the tank. Or you will be replacing the whole unit. Which is a bit more then that.

 

I have replaced the power steering pump in my 3.0 AWD X and it was a tricky job to get done only down to restricted access space you would need to remove the wheel arch liner for more space but there is one particular bolt on the top left if memory serves that i had to get a flexable socket wrench to get to it i also have quite slim hands which helped and i think i was lucky that it loosened off. All in all 4 hours work but that's with me on the drive way winging it but all went well and still running ok today. one year on.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll go to the hardware store after work today and grab a magnet and some string. Hopefully it comes up clean.

If not, what else am I looking at getting here? Also, can the shavings not just be cleaned out of the system by flushing it?

 

You will find that a magnet on the end of a stick will work much better.
On a string the magnet will just stick to the nearest metal part and
not go to the bottom of the tank. They sell a device that is like
a telescoping antenna with a magnet on the end which is just perfect.
It is for picking up parts that you have dropped in difficult to get to
places.

If you have metal shavings in the system they will get stuck in the
valve that controls the oil flow. You probably can't get them out
without complete disassembly. They may also have damaged the
valve or the hydraulic piston.

If you do have metal shavings but still opt for just replacing the pump
you probably should look into getting a magnetic particle catcher that
you could install in the hydraulic return line. This could help clean
up any residual contamination.

Pete.

 

Well I left the magnet on a string in there for a few minutes and it came back up clean. Are you saying that's not an accurate enough indicator?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the tank is only a few inches deep so if I set it on the bottom I would get metal shavings if there were any, right?

 

If the magnet goes to the bottom you should be good. I am thinking
that it is going to stick to the first metal it hits and won't get to the bottom.

Pete.

 

I'm fairly sure it was on the bottom, I would think with the amount of time I gave it there would be something attached to it if there were in fact metal shavings in the system. Maybe I'll get something like the device you mentioned just to be sure.

My pump won't be in until this Friday most likely, so I won't be able to have the repair done until Saturday or possibly Monday. I'll be sure to update you all at that point.