steering pump whine

[Jakegday]

hello all. im talking about my 78 ranchero here. whenever you use the steering wheel, you can clearly hear the power steering pump whine. weather your sitting, moving, going fast, slow, making a sharp turn, or wide turn, when you turn the steering wheel for any reason, the pump whines badly. it is full on fluid.

Now my question: is the 100% guaranteed a bad pump, or is there any way it could be something in the gearbox causing it to whine? thus being a bad gearbox instead...

 

[river_rat]

Just about has to be the pump, IMO. Ford pumps are cheap.

 

[The_Jeff]

Ford pumps just sound that way. You could try a fluid flush in case it sheared.

Rebuilt ford pumps even come with a tag in the box saying they won't take them back for noise under warranty.

 

[JHZR2]

try the lubeguard

 

[Warstud]

Check for leaks...if none change out fluid a bleed the system.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Try Valvoline MaxLife Power Steering Fluid, it cured the whine in my E430. I used Turkey Baster to siphon PSF in the reservoir and fill it with Valvoline MaxLife Power Steering Fluid, drive a few days then do it again, after the full quart of Valvoline MaxLife Power Steering Fluid was used the whine stopped.

 

[JOD]

don't make my mistake and automatically start with 'worst case scenario'. Check for leaks, and flush the fluid. Chances are good it'll solve your problem is it's not leaking. If not, swap the pump.

 

[bobfather99]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Ford pumps just sound that way. You could try a fluid flush in case it sheared.

Rebuilt ford pumps even come with a tag in the box saying they won't take them back for noise under warranty.

Its Ford pump noise, all you can do is change out the fluid and live with it.

 

[fdcg27]

I agree with many of the other posters.
If there are no leaks, do a turkey baster flush as a first resort.
This will probably cure the whine.
It worked on our Aerostar, although the whine wasn't too bad on it.
If that doesn't fix the whine, just buy some cheese to go with it.

 

[Jakegday]

thanks for the replies guys! since there are no leaks, it sounds like a flush with maxlife is in the near future!

 

[OVERKILL]

Flush with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Has always worked extremely well in Ford pumps for me. You will have to do it a few times, as the new fluid will get filthy quickly. Though the noise should subside significantly after the first drain/fill.

 

[229]

Use a vacuum fill device or at least seal a funnel to it and overfill to burp the air out then set it at the proper level.

 

[morris]

warning do NOT use solvent to flush the pump, it will lock up the pump. use oil to flush it.

 

[mechtech2]

A Ford PS pump that whines is not rare, believe me.

A small shot of STP can often help on these older pumps.

If it were mine, I'd turkey baster out the reservoir, then fill it and start it up. Then repeat 2-3 times. Now you have a pretty good flush -fresh fluid [ATF], with no mess or parts removal to deal with.
I'd use the STP [not a lot] if it still made noise.

 

[AdRock]

I've put Mobil 1 ATF in every noisy Ford pump I've come across and it cut the noise by at least 50% every time.

 

[punisher]

Agree with above, those Ford C3 pumps whine, it's just to what degree.

Whatever you do, while changing fluid/fixing it, don't let it suck air. For whatever reason it can sometime be a major pain getting out the bubbles in the fluid, and you get a constant cavitation whine that can drive you nuts. FoMoCo even had a TSB about vacuum bleeding the pump after any p-steering work where fluid was changed/added.

 

[artificialist]

I have seen some companies sell kits to use a GM pump in a Ford vehicle in order to solve such problems.

 

[morris]

thicker oil?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
I have seen some companies sell kits to use a GM pump in a Ford vehicle in order to solve such problems.


That's hideous. The Ford systems as far as I know run higher pressure. Hence the wine. Also, I've found a good synthetic ATF solves it most of the time anyway.