Power steering whining up a storm!? Quiet down that sassy pump.

Hey!... Welcome to another #modmonday! This week is a bit of maintenance and repair, with the cold weather here you might find your power steering making a bit more noise. Today we will touch on two of the more common faults from the P/s system.

As the cold weather sets in you might hear your power steering pump singing the song of it's people. As it whines away you will be asking yourself... Where do I start with this noise?

Sometimes you will need to replace the whole pump but often it just needs some care and support.

The most likely area is the top o-ring that connects the feed inlet to the pump. With constant temperature changes and heat cycles this rubber seal will begin to deteriorate and shrink. With it no longer sealing you may find power steering fluid on the pump, the other is when the seal allows air into the pump which makes it whine.

New seal (orange) old seal (black). You can see how thin and narrow the old o-ring is.

This repair is quite easy with unbolting the feed inlet. With it removed you can easily replace the o-ring, tighten it back down and be on your way. Full step by step repair is on the website!

The other area of concern is power steering reservoir hose. Just like the o-ring, time and heat will take it's toll on the rubber. On most lder Subaru's you will find this rubber hose, rock hard. Which means it needs replacing and this also a great time to replace the spring clamp that seals the hose to the pump.