Diagnosing Whining Noise When Turning Steering Wheel

A whining noise when turning can be really annoying and disturbing for any car driver. It can break your peaceful penance at the steering wheel.

With so many moving parts, working in tandem, it is difficult to figure out the source of such abnormal car sounds. However, one thing you can be sure of is that the noise is being created due to some problem in the steering wheel assembly itself. The likely candidates are the power steering pump, pulley or the belt.

Possible Causes

This loud whining noise often borders on squealing. It becomes loudest during the turn and then drops down. Many people would attribute this noise to a problem caused by a bad power steering pump. However, the problem mostly arises due to a loose power steering belt. When you take a turn, the belt travels through the steering wheel pump's pulley. When it has gone loose, it does not follow its normal trajectory over the pulley and slips, when the tension on it increases during a turn. That causes the whining noise. Another problem causing the whining might be worn pump bearings. You must check for both. To do that, you must open the hood and have a look at the power steering assembly. Check for the tension on the belt. If it's loose, just tightening the belt might solve the problem. If the whining persists even after tightening the belt, you will have to check for worn bearings.

Fixing the Problem

Let me show you how you can get rid of the whining noise, by tightening the steering wheel pump's belt. The things you will need are a wrench and pry bar.

Open the car hood and locate the power steering assembly. Locate the power steering pump and adjust arm bolt, as well as mounting bolt connected with it. Power steering pump is always located on the side of the car engine and attached with two bolts. The upper one, which is fixed, is the mounting bolt and the lower one which is movable is the adjusting arm bolt. The lower one can usually be slid through a mounting bracket for adjustment.

To tighten the pump belt, you have to pull the steering pump away as far as possible. Loosen the adjusting arm bolt to adjust along with mounting bolt. Pull the power steering pump away till the belt is tight enough. Once you think it's tight enough, tighten adjusting bolt firmly using a wrench along with the mounting bolt. With that, your problem should be fixed. Otherwise, you will have to go for a change in the bearings and get the pump checked.

If you hear a groaning noise while turning the steering wheel, the problem might be low power steering fluid. An adequate fluid refill will cure the problem. If you hear a loud growling noise while turning, then the problem might be a defective pump or steering gear assembly. Other than that, the bit of hissing noise that you may hear while turning is normal.

So, this is how you can easily silence the whining noise from power steering. If you are adept at car repair jobs, you can go ahead and fix it on your own or just hand over the job to your nearest repair center.