My '98 B2500 has had a distinct gear whine coming from the PS pump as long as I have had it. It really sounds like a throwout bearing going bad, but it is for sure the PS pump. So this weekend I finally break down and replace it with a rebuilt unit, and it sounds just like the old one! I even rigged a vacuum unit to purge the air per Ford's instructions, which helped some, but it is still noisy. Is this just something I have to live with, or should I try another pump? Does y'alls do this?

 

Ford's power steering pump is normally slightly noisy. But if you can hear is distinctly overtop of the engine you have issues. Make sure you're using good clean fluid.

As far as bleeding out the air, my hayes ranger book says turn the steering wheel lock to lock 3 to 5 times and it'll bleed out all the air.

Good luck

 

Ford PS pumps are notorious for being alittle noisy. I have the exact same truck as you (thought it is a ford, not mazda) and my PS is a little noisy. No big deal though. The functionality or performance have never been substandard.

 

I developed a noisey P/S pump on m 94 Taurus & it was at about the same number of years you have on your ride now.

A dose of Seafoam in the pump & driving it a few hundred miles around town, then doing a real good system flush with several qt's of new fluid, seems to have fixed her up.

Shame on me for letting the fluid go too long. It was no longer clear & bright red, but looked sorta reddish/brown/grey & had begun to smell less than fresh, but not burned.

Anyway a good cleaning with the Seafoam & a thorough flush with me pouring in new fluid while the wife turned the steering wheel slowly lock to lock, to flush the rack real good, quieted it right down. It's been over three years now & it's still quiet!!!!

SO, if your P/S fluid has never been changed, maybe that puppy is crying for some attention, mine was, thank goodness I finally woke up & paid attention!!!! lol

I've not let the Ranger P/S system go like I did the Taurus.
Now I flush both the Tranny & P/S systems, on my vehicles, every time I change the tranny fluid & filter, so the 99 Rangers P/S pump has so far not gotten noisey on me.

Just some happenings from my end, what I did & how it's turned out so far.

P/S system fluid maintenance has sorta become one of my pet peeves, kinda like flushing & changing the brake fluid at least every 3 years.

Seems we tend to overlook those two fluids most often, so I tend to get on a rant about em!!!! lol

Anyway try flushing your noisey system & see if it'll improve & let us know how it goes.

 

How exactly did you flush it? Did you just remove the return line and route it to a drain pan, or what?

And yes, you can hear it over the engine.

 

Yup I could hear my P/S pump over the engine too.

Well as I said above, I added the Seafoam, drove it a few hundred miles to let it loosen, dissolve & put into solution, any sludge or varnish.

Then I put the front end up on jack stands, such that the front wheels could be turned left & right, lock to lock.

Then crimped the small, low pressure return hose closed, with a pair of hemostats & took the return hose loose at the cooler & routed it into a catch bucket, then loosened the hemostat, so it could drain the P/S pump reservoir.

Then plugged the return hose with a golf tee, so it wouldn't leak fluid during the flush & routed a scrap piece of hose from the cooler into my catch bucket.

Then topped off the reservoir with new fluid, removed he serpentine belt, hooked up my variable speed drill motor to the P/S pump pulley & poured in new fluid as the pump removed it & the wife slowly turned the steering wheel, lock to lock, to clean out the rack.
I ran 3 qts through mine to get it good & clean.

If you aren't careful & let the pump fluid level get low, you'll aerate the fluid & it'll cause the P/S to shudder & shimmy, so go slow & keep the pump reservor topped off, so you don't have this problem.

I wasn't careful enough when I changed the Rangers fluid & got a lot of air in the fluid, because I didn't use the variable speed drill motor, I had the wife start & stop the engine while I tried to pour in fluid.

Problem was I couldn't pour fluid in faster than the pump removed it, so it got low & whipped a lot of air into the fluid & it took several days to get it all out, even though I tried the called for bleed proceedure, of slowly turning the steering wheel lock to lock.
Yup I screwed up royaly & really whipped a lot of air in the fluid, so take your time & tun the drill motor at a slow speed, so you can keep the reservoir topped off.

I had so much air in the system that at times it would go into parasitic oscillation & that wasn't safe, but it worked itself out in a couple of days, while I drove white knucleled & with my jaws tight!!!! Won't make that mistake again!!!! LOL

 

I will be interested to see how this plays out for you. I have this same problem and like you, I hcanged out the PS pump to fix it and used the required bleeding procedure. And like you, I still have a very noisy PS pump. Please keep us posted on your successes and failures with this. I will be very interested to hear how it works out.

 

What I found works for a proper P/S bleed is this.

1.Raise the front tires, or put cardboard underneath them.
2.With key on engine off, and the p/s fluid topped up, turn the steering wheel lock to lock 20 to 30 times (turn left: 1 then right: 2 then left: 3 and so on)
Then try it under engine power. The whine should be gone.

The problem is with the engine running, the pump is turning. This keeps the trapped air from getting out. I found all the chevs I fix need this bleed procedure, so I don't see why it won't work for Ford.

 

I will try this. It makes sense and my attempts at bleeding were done with the engine running and thus the PS pump turning.

BTW - Why is it that you haven't had to replace a PS pump on a Ford but you have on Chevy's? Just curious.

 

I tried that bleed procedure and it made it worse, if you can believe that. Plus, now the steering wheel shudders when turning at speed. I took the pump off last night and I will return it to O'Reilly's. I'll try another one and see if it is just a bad pump. If this next one whines too, I think I'll just put the old one back on and live with it.

 

OK, I think I have it fixed now. I put on the new pump last night and flushed out the old fluid per the procedure recommended by pawpaw. I didn't have an angle drill so I used an air ratchet instead, worked just as good, I could run the pump while pouring in new fluid. I ran 3 qts. of Dexron through it, put on the belt, and fired it up. It is very quiet now. In addition, the steering while driving is smoother than ever, and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it before but it is much better now.

Was it the new pump, or the fresh fluid? I don't know, but my fluid looks totally clean now whereas before it was kinda chalky looking and sort of a ruddy color. Now it is bright red.

I would say if you have noise, try pawpaw's flush procedure. It'll only cost you a couple of qts of ATF to try it.

 

Good feedback jas88, good to hear it worked for you & you got er put right.

In your initial post you indicated you had already tried one new pump without success & installed a second one, but it too was noisey & the system had the shudders, (probably from entrapped air bubbles), so then did you install yet another (3rd) P/S pump, before you did the flush routine????

Did you use the "SeaFoam" & new fluid to flush, or just 3 qts of new fluid alone????

Good idea on the air ratchet, to drive the pump.
Anything you can use that'll turn it & allow you to control the pumps speed is better IMO, than using the engine at idle, as it pumps the fluid out so fast, it's difficult or impossible to keep the pump reservoir topped off & you get air bubbles whipped into the fluid & thats difficult to remove.

In my case, it was so bad, the system would feel ok, but sporadically go into parasitic oscillation & that was dangerous.

So any of you doing the P/S system flush, take great care not to get air into the fluid & if you happen to do it, take plenty of time to work it all out, by making sure the P/S pump reservoir is properly topped off & slowly turning the steering wheel lock to lock, with the engine at idle, until it's all worked out.

DON'T dirve it with air in the fluid.
Onetime in my case, the parasitic oscillation got so bad, (and I was on a straight road) it was difficult to hold the wheel & I don't think there was much air in it either, because I had done the "bleed" proceedure & when it did finally "burp", the fluid level didn't drop any & it didn't "spit up" any fluid at all.

 

Oops, double post.

 

I put in one new pump, tried to bleed it per Ford's instructions, still noisy. I then tried to bleed it per woolie74's instructions, and that made it worse (noise-wise) and also induced the shudder. So I took that pump back and got another one. That is the one I put in last night and did your flush procedure, but without the Seafoam, just fresh ATF. So I am now on pump #2.

It still groans a bit when turning with engine idling, but, other than that, it is quiet. It is much better than either the original pump or replacement #1.

I am declaring victory and moving on to my pinging issue.

Thanks again for the great tip, pawpaw!

 

if it keeps making noise add Ford Additive - friction modifier - hypoid gear - (12) 4 oz.
part number XL-3


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Ed