Help with whining P/S on '98 F150

[D Hill]

Greetings folks,

A few weeks ago I purchased an '98 F150 4.6 2WD with 95K on the clock. I'm currently going through all of the fluids, having changed the rear diff fluid with Amsoil severe gear 75-140 and am halfway through an Auto R/X treatment of the engine and trans before I switch to M1 extended performance 0-20 and Amsoil ATF respectively. Last week the P/S pump started to whine and I flushed it with Amsoil ATF (bottom hose disconnect) but the noise is still there. I've had plenty of fords and all but one had rubbish PS pumps so I'm not surprised, but I would like some ideas before I go any further. I was wondering about some of the treatments, especially Lubegard, but have no experience using anything but Lucas, which I didn't care for. Cheers in advance for any advice.

Cheers,

Dennis

 

[CourierDriver]

Im a lubegard fan for transmissions and ps pump, works for me.

 

[HTSS_TR]

My E430 Power Steering whined when I steered more than 15-20 degrees with warm engine, I changed to Valvoline Maxlife PSF and it cured the whine. The steering is very quiet now as it was new.

 

[Y_K]

Sometimes, the belt pulleys make the sound very similar to the PS whine on that engine. I know, it does sound like a newbie stuff, but I had ones that behaved exactly like PS. And at 95k it does not hurt to look into the belt-train anyway.

 

[D Hill]

Pulleys are good (as I've replaced Water, crank and alt with an underdrive set) and Idler pulley is good as well. Belt was replaced the same day I purchased the truck.

 

[panthermike]

I would put 2 ounces of Lubegard Red in there and see what happens.

 

[MolaKule]

I do know that in some Chevy/GMC pumps there was a TSB that stated one should use Valvoline Synthetic PSF for whine and a few other problems so as HTSS said, try that first.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I forget to mention that I tried several different PSF's, from expensive OEM to Preston to Castrol ... None could eliminate the whine. The last trial was Maxlife PSF and it works. I just did the turkey baster method, drive a day then redo it the next night, after the third fluid exchange it was fairly quiet and it is completely quiet when a quart Maxlife PSF of was used. I don't remember exactly how much I paid for it, I think it was $4.xx a quart at Kragen.

 

[D Hill]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to try and find some lubegard and Maxlife PSF when I come home from work later today.

Cheers,

Dennis

 

[panthermike]

Originally Posted By: D Hill
Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to try and find some lubegard and Maxlife PSF when I come home from work later today.

Cheers,

Dennis


Maxlife is easy to get, but I sometimes have a hard time finding Lubegard. I either get it online or at Napa.

BTW, same exact combo I'll be using in the Corolla.

 

[Stu_Rock]

MolaKule, hasn't it been several years since Ashland discontinued the synthetic PSF? Is there another product that I am forgetting?

 

[panthermike]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
MolaKule, hasn't it been several years since Ashland discontinued the synthetic PSF? Is there another product that I am forgetting?


I believe you're right, but the PSF they have now meets a GM spec. I'm not familiar with the PSF specs though?

 

[MolaKule]

If Ashland has discontinued their Valvoline synthetic PSF, then the next best PFS would be the Redline fluid since it is a full synthetic.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Try the MaxLife PSF first. Most of the Fords my family owned in the nineties whined too. It is 12 years old so you might end up replacing it. Myself...I'd try the MaxLife PSF first.

 

[SuperDave456]

Ive had good luck with doing the turkey baster and slightly overfilling with the required fluid. Don't want to overfill too much as it will spew back all over the inside of your engine, or depending on the design blow a gasket.

I've never had an issue with it, but I'm talking about over filling by 1/4 to 1/2 an inch.
Lots of noise is caused by the pump being slightly low when cold, this seemed to help.