The problem started when I was snow drifting in mid December, I had the truck in 4wd, locked it 1st gear, and I was just doing circles around a parking lot and a few 4wd donuts. I wasn't exactly being easy on it, but I wasn't all out beating the hell out of it either. I started to smell power steering fluid after a while so I looked under the hood and it looked like a sprinkler went off, oil was everywhere but the reservoir still had a good amount and the steering felt normal so I kept going, just eased up a bit. The fluid kept going down so I had someone turn the wheel while I looked under the hood and when the wheel was moved fluid started spraying like crazy out of the pump seal. I replaced the pump and bled the system the best I could and now the new pump is whining really bad. The power steering hoses were still pretty good so I left them, and didn't flush all the fluid, just replaced what I lost during the repair. Its been a month and its still whining pretty bad but the steering feels relatively normal, any suggestions to fix the whine?

 

Could be a kink in the hose you missed and it could be starving the pump possibly. Did you drain all the fluid out and replace it as well?

 

Ill look over the hoses again, I didn't drain and replace the old fluid like I should have, I was in a hurry to get it back on the road. What fluid should I use? some say power steering, some say atf.

 

Use power steering fluid. I was told that ATF was alright to use in older vehicles but not newer ones. Make sure its clear with a slight red/pink tint to it, if its dark or burnt looking then thats probably why its making that noise still.

 

It may be the pump itself. A friend of mine put a brand new one on his Pontiac grand prix and it continued to whine after multiple bleedings and fluid changes. We took it back to Orielly's and they said that there manufacturer changed some kind of filter inside them and they have been having to exchange allot for that very same reason. We put the new one in and it has been working with no noise ever since.

 

If I'm going to flush the fluid I might as well put another new pump on at the same time. I'll take it back to murray's and grab a new one when I get the fluid.