2000 Hyundai Elantra makes a humming or faint grinding noise when the steering wheel is rotated in very slow speed or when stopped. It only happens when the engine is cold, goes away after a few minutes of driving. PS and other belts are 16 months old. Belts had a chirping noise which went away a few months ago. Is it a belt issue or something else?
Check the level of the power steering fluid in the reservoir.How old is it? Could need a flush if extremely dirty. The p/s pump has to work a lot harder when the car is stationary due to the fact that most of the vehicule weight is in the front.If the noise goes away after a few minutes of driving, it should be fine.
PS fluid looked OK, the level is also OK. 2000 Hyundai Elantra with original PS fluid. I never heard of PS fluid flush. Can I siphon out some PS fluid and refill with fresh?
Can I siphon out some PS fluid and refill with fresh?
Yes,you can do that! Do this procedure 4 to 5 time in a 3 month period or until the p/s fluid look nice and clean. Check your owner’s manual for the right p/s fluid to use in your vehicule.
Before I change the PS fluid, here is some info:
The vehicle does not have to be moving to hear the noise. The noise is there even when the car is fully stopped. When the car is stopped or moving at very slow speed, if I rotate the steering wheel either way and hold it, the grinding noise continues until I rotate the steering wheel back to straight position.
The sound seems to be coming from the front side. The sound is similar to brake dragging but I don’t think the brake is dragging because the car runs fine.
There was an incident. The car lost power steering ability while driving and then several minutes later some of the power in steering came back. After opening the hood I saw a power steering fluid around the PS pump, so the old fluid leaked for some reason. I was supposed to siphon out the old fluid anyway in order to get rid of the whining noise. This incident kind of helped me getting rid of the old fluid.
Previously, there was a grinding/whining sound coming from the drive belt area that’s why I started this thread, now the noise is even louder since the incident.
Bought a Sea Foam Hydra Trans Tune and a quart of Dexron II and III compatible ATF. Added 6 ounces of Sea Foam and filled the rest of the PS reservoir with the ATF.
Started the car, rotated the steering end-to-end, idled for a while and then drove around. When the steering rotated to either ends, the whining got louder. Didn’t see any fluid leaking.
I took the PS belt off and checked the PS pulley and it was wiggling up to a few millimeters which didn’t feel normal.
I have audio and video, will it help if I upload? Is it a bad PS pump or just the pulley?
Yes,upload it. If you want to hear what a bad power steering pulley sounds like,see this video.
You can click the icon with the upward-pointing arrow in the response box and it will bring up options to upload.
Here are the audio files. The grinding noise is not faint any more. If it is really a bad PS pulley, is there a temporary fix to reduce the noise? How to diagnose?
f you hear any of these noises when turning your steering wheel they typically indicate a problem with your power steering system like a loose belt low power steering fluid. … Over time, some of the seals that contain the power steering fluid can wear down from normal use and cause small leaks.