1st gen Sienna whining noise

[5280]

Hello all!
I just picked up a little 2002 Toyota Sienna with 170k miles. Clean history with regular maintenance per Carfax and seems well cared for.

PO stated that the vehicle had been parked for a year and recently decided to sell it vs letting it rot. He had the oil, transmission, spark plugs and filters changed the week prior to sale.

I noticed yesterday upon start up (engine cold, ambient temps about 100), there was a whine from the engine bay that lasted about 20 seconds after ignition. My hearing is not great but it sounded similar to a 1990's GM power steering pump whine when loaded.

The van runs, shifts and drives great.

Any ideas on where I should start to identify the cause or is this a common sound from these old Toyota 3.0's?

Thank you!

 

[BHopkins]

It may be the p/s pump. That generation of Sienna vans are notorious for whining p/s pumps.

I volunteered at a special event, guiding cars to park. I guided thousands of drivers to parking spots, so the family could catch a shuttle to the special event.

On multiple occasions, I was startled by p/s pump whine. I started paying attention, and almost all of them were Toyota Sienna vans. It was very memorable that they were all the same model car, that were whining.

 

[Nick1994]

Toyotas use Dexron III ATF for power steering fluid. Make sure it doesn't have regular clear power steering fluid in it.

 

[5280]

Thanks for the info! Good to hear that its a common thing on these guys. I'll pull a sample of the fluid and see what it looks like.