Power steering pump

is the fluid full, the correct type and did you bleed the system after you did the job?

I notice a small "buzz" like electrical current in a high voltage wire sound not really a whine when I use my power steering in the driveway or at low speeds and I know this is the electric pump just doing its thing, my 08 made the same exact noise, at the same times, neither the 11 or 08 have or gave me any issues with power steering, except when I shut my 08 off while coasting on an empty access road to a freeway once, the power steering did not "boot" back up when I started back the car and it stayed off until I made a decently hard turn into a parking lot on the same drive, then it just came back on and never had anything else go wrong.

its just the pump doing its thing guys, when you turn hard especially at stopped or low speed it needs a lot of fluid pressure to make the assist happen right, well that puts demand on the pump more than just turning at 30mph or so as the car when moving does not need as much force to turn. the more the pump has to build pressure the more it will work, the more it works the more electrical demand and then you get a noise, mine does it in parking lots a lot, its fine. its the same idea as the regular belt driven pumps, when you turn hard while stopped or at low speed they have to build a lot of pressure, well that makes them whine. same with an electric pump.

cityjack said:

Evening all,

I understand the above explanation and it makes sense. But the car never ued to do this. It has about 80K on the car and we recently went through a really cold spell and salty roads for what its worth. The fluid level is fine too. Not sure why all of a sudden it would start to make a minor squeal when turning in tight spots at hardly any speed or sitting still when it never did.

Thanks guys and have a nice night.

Sid

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check the fluid for flakes, the earlier year models had to have a recall due to the power steering lines rusting and letting pieces all through the steering systems, so its notbeyond my thoughts a newer one could have this happen too.