Hey guys, I've got a distinct whine in this cold weather coming from my truck that sounds much like a front pump whine in the cab. However, my buddy brought up the idea that older fords were notorious for power steering pump whine (which they are) and after a glance my power steering setup is remarkably similar to that of the latter years.

Is there an easy way to differentiate the two whines? When under the hood nothing is noticeable at idle, and when I rev it up the engine noise overpowers so I cannot hear the whining. In fact, if its the transmission whining it is only noticeable while in gear, not at idle or neutral... but at the same time that could be simply because my exhaust note is too loud. It is the most pronounced between 1-3K at a gradual acceleration when the motor aint that loud, and is inaudible while just cruising...

I hope its not my front pump taking a digger but roughly 170K its getting to be about that time... but the power steering set up is just as old sooo... any ideas?

Anyone got a power steering pump whine on their SD's?

 

what if you unbolt the torque converter from the flywheel to try to eliminate the noise.

 

Torque Converter Studs, not bolts dude. Bad things happen when you take the nuts loose and run the motor. Bad things. If the noise goes away when you take it out of gear, one would think "trans." Than again, it might be just overcome by the noise from the motor, like you said. Does the noise change (become more noticeable) when you turn the steering wheel side to side when stationary? That's usually when the greatest load is on the power steering system, when the vehicle is not moving, so any noise from the pump will usually get loader when you turn the wheel. Find a stethescope (sp?) a parts store might have one, usually the trucks (Snap-On, Mac, Matco, etc) have one on there. You'd be amazed at what you can hear with one of those. Pretty cheap too, actually.

 

did'nt relise they use studs. if it had bolts then you can seperate the converter and the flywheel.

 

No indication of the power steering pump when turning, but then again in the RPM ranges I hear it in i'm definitely not locking out my steering wheel

Even setting the noise from the motor aside its really RPM dependant... and its really upsetting me. Because its such a specific window its audible, and only when gradually accelerating. When at speed anywhere from 1200-2500RPM there is nothing, accelerating between those ranges, its sound easily overpowers the motor.

This darn cold weather brought in the problems, maybe we'll get a heatwave (above 32F) and it'll go away. And it'd be nice if my windshield washer lines would unfreeeze.... but thats small potatoes compared to this whine.