I have a 2003 Corolla with an automatic transmission. It has 35,000 miles on it and has had the maintenance done on time.
After the car has been sitting for a long time I sometimes hear a noise when I start to back up. It sounds most like the noise you get in an old manual transmission car when you only think it’s in reverse. But it was never that loud and only lasted a few seconds.
Yesterday I discovered it made the noise when I turned the wheel. The engine was running, the car in park. Now it is very loud and still sounds like gears clashing. It makes the noise in both directions. After I back into the street it quits making the noise for a time.
My husband thinks it could be the power steering pump. There are no drips or leaks and the power steering fluid is about one-fourth an inch too high.
I have already made an appointment with the dealer for Monday.
Any ideas?
Sounds like a power steering pump to me! Not sure why you’re taking it to the dealer, that’s such an easy job with cheap generic parts, you’d probably save some serious coin if you just took it to a good independent shop.
Someone else suggested it couldbe the rack and pinion going bad. And I’d want the dealer, one I actually like, to do that. Anyway, I have an extended warranty. It will cost me $100 no matter where I have the repair done. And I am back in California and the independents are almost as expensive as the dealers.
At any rate I recorded the sound because it may not make the noise for them. And if thatrecording isn’t good enough I have a movie clip I made with my new camer and I’ll play it for them on my laptop. 