I went out and checked the fluid and of course, it was low. Not even touching the dipstick. I checked it with the car hot by the way.

This is puzzling to me. There are no leaks under the car or in the engine compartment I can find. It was just in for a service at my local dealership 4k miles ago and they obvisouly didn't check the fluid.

We just back off vacation and I noticed the power steering pump making a whinning noise. I figured the pump was on the way out but my wife told me it had been making that noise for several months, :eek , and she thought it was normal since MB of Knoxville didn't say anything about it and were checking all the fluid levels.

The weird thing is, it is loud when you first start the car and drive, really loud I thought. But when you shut the car off and start it back up, the sound totally goes away.

I will put some fluid in it and report back.

In the mean time, how hard a swap is it to replace the pump itself? What is invovled? I may go ahead and make the swap if it is not too bad.

Thanks,

Eric Barger
www.installuniversity.com

 

Topped off the resovoir today. The whinning at this point seems to have stopped. I won't know until the morning for sure.

I can't find any road grime around any connections or around the pump. Of course, I have not looked under the car yet.

Anyone know if this is common to loose fluid over 88k miles?

Eric

 

Incredibly common. Just a little top off fixes it. Don't worry I doubt you will find anything at all wrong, often just a temperature change will cause the fluid level to drop. Been getting cold mornings lately, and I am seeing this again.

 

Thanks for the information! That sets my mind at ease.

My wife called me this morning and the steering is completely silent again and a lot smoother. Problem fixed.

Now to write this up.


Eric

 

Glad to hear you might have solved the problem.

FYI.....if it re-occurs have the p/s pump reservoir examined. On my 99 ML430, I had similar symptoms and had an independent shop check it out.Turned out to be a filter/diffuser that keep the fluid from foaming.
Had just the reservoir replaced and its fine now. Sure beats paying for the entire pump ! Good opportunity to have the fluid changed too !

 

For some reason these all do this with no signs of any leaks.