I have a 2002 Ram 1500 4 wheel drive 5.9.Last winter I noticed when it got cold that the steering started to whine a bit,by the end of the winter I had changed out all the pullies and the power steering pump.Seemed ok but when the temp dropped to below 50 here now it has started again whines when the wheels are turned sitting and under 40 mph any thoughts on what I need to check/replace?Thanks

 

I'm going to follow this (same truck, same symptom). I flushed my PS fluid about 3 months ago, but still on the original pump and rack. I still get that whine from it whenever it's cold out and only when the steering is being turned. I thought that it was my pump started to show its age. Did you get a re-maned or a new pump?

 

I bought a brand new power steering pump,I figured with the work involved it would be worth it.

 

That's good, there's so many threads about re-man racks failing, not sure about the re-man pumps tho. It's sounds a lot like the noise is coming from my pump, but is there anything in the rack that would cause the noise. I think I've mainly just read that people replace the racks due to a leakage...

 

Even a brand new power steering pump may whine if the rack has begun to fail. If the rack has blocked channels, it will cause the pump to work much harder. If the rack has an internal leaking problem, it'll make the pump work harder.
Whenever you replace a rack because of failure, you should replace the pump because more times than not, the pump has seen contamination and can then in-turn fail and ruin your rack. Most don't and then have several problems... Atleast flush the other part out well before using again to remove any problem particles.

 

Ah yes, thanks for that info DirtyDog. That makes a lot of sense and fills in the missing info from the other threads.

 

Thaks for the info,now I haven't checked yet but what does a new rack run and how extensive is it to change?