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I'm looking for hints to a problem on a 1998 XLT w/4.6 motor.
When the weather is cold (45 degrees and below) I have a squealing noise when the steering wheel is turned (either direction). Of course noise is hard to describe, but if you remember what the old upper A-frame bushings sound like when they are worn, you'll know what it sounds like.
I have plenty of fluid..the serpentine belt is in excellent shape for 102,000 miles (lots of highway miles).
Does it sound more like a growling that intensifies the farther the wheel is turned? If so it could just be the pump. Ford power steering pumps are notorious for that kind of whining growl after awhile. My trucks do it all the time no matter what kind of fluid I put in it. It's just the sound of the fluid as it flows through the system.
That whining noise is usually the piston that starts to stick in the ps pump. I had real good success by running a can of BG PSP cleaner through mine. (it's like a radiotor flush w/ solvents)
Then I added new fluid and the noise pretty much went away.
I had tried just flushing with new fluid, but it did not work.