So if I bleed the PS and bubbles come out then I have been running the system with air in it and likely damaged the pump and should replace it? If I’m understanding correctly? It’s been a couple years sense I sucked out some fluid to replace the hose clamps.
Don’t know if it’s related or not, but I do remember Buble sounds when starting the car, every now and then but it’s been awhile sense I’ve heard it.
No, you are not uderstanding correctly. A power steering puml will purge its air very quickly. If the noise continues you should replace the pump IF it is coming from the pump.
Your posts continue but did you disconnect the power steering so you can listen for the whine from the transmission yet?
Time to be blunt…
OK, why do you keep asking questions on top of questions on top of more questions about something as simple as bleeding the air out of the PS system, or removing the serp belt to see if the noise changes/goes away?.. We are NOT asking you to completely disassemble the entire car, just a few simple checks/test and get back to us with the results, then we can move forward…
But man, it is like you are wanting to take your home PC completely apart cause it will not power up without 1st making sure the power strip is not switched off… OR…Hey my car doesn’t start, should I remove PCM and see if it burnt out the driver for the fuel injectors? Did you make sure you have gas in it 1st… lol
Again, you are wayyyyyy overthinking this… Start doing some of the test to either confirm or deny the issue please and then post the results…
And NO I am not saying that it is 100% your PS pump making the noise, or any % for that matter, it is just one very simple thing a DIYer can check to eliminate it as the issue…
Wanted to update everybody.
With the car up in the air, power steering reservoir lid open, I went back and forth as one, 20 times. I did not have a helper with me. But when I got done I notice an air bubble at the surface, and the fluid went down a little.
An interesting thing I noticed that might be related. When I spin the tires back and forth, meaning going in one direction and then going in the other, I heard a knocking sound, and noticed some slop in the CV axle, it looks like one axle is going in one direction while the other is going in the opposite for a brief moment in time. See the video. You may have to turn up your volume. Sorry for the low quality video.
And lastly I heard a clicking sound while rotating the tire in the forward direction. Please turn up the volume. When I spin faster it gets louder. Almost exactly like the sound I’m hearing while accelerating. This is of the driver side CV axle, next to the transmission. Turn volume all the way up.
Do you think this might be it?
Haven’t gotten the chance to turn on car with belt off. Will do so soon if people still think the CV axle is not the issue. Getting the belt off and back on is a pain the rear on this car. I am on my second tensioner from it breaking while in the process. An extreme amount of force is required, even when going slow. I will report back if I still hear whine sound later today.
I appreciate the help!
My Corolla does that too, I expect that part is normal. I’ve never heard any clicking sounds when manually rotating a front tire is the same direction though. Do you notice any weird sounds that only occur (or get much worse) when turning?
Good to know that the knocking sound is not just my car when switching directions.
Thanks for the reply. No I don’t. That’s the weird thing. I know clicking sound while turning is a tale tale sign of a bad CV axle. Which is really odd because my car doesn’t appear to be doing that. But a faint clicking sound while simply spinning the tire by hand with the car up in the air, beats me. I think it might be the axle, but this isn’t the typical symptoms I know to look for when having a bad CV axle. It’s strange to, because it gets louder when spinning the tires faster.
I hear a whine only when accelerating and depressing the pedal, not when the car is simply rolling. Very odd.
The clicking sound does appear to be coming only from the driver side CV axle/transmission area. When rotating the passenger tire, I still hear the clicking sound, but it appears to be coming from the driver side CV axle/transmission area.
The CV axles boots themselves are not torn or cut, and I don’t see any grease anywhere.
+1
On some cars–BMWs come to mind–the injectors might sound like a K-Mart corn popper at idle speeds, but they defininitely don’t “whine”.
You may have two problems, each now starting to show their first symptoms. 200K + miles, vehicle should be allowed a few niggles now and then. One problem might be a wheel bearing on the way out, the other an outer CV joint may need grease or replacement. Even with the boots intact, as you drive, the centrifugal force tends to throw the grease away from where it is needed, and the grease can dry up too. I diy’er re-lube my Corolla’s outer CV joints every 90 K miles, or when the boot needs replacement. I’m able to remove the CV joint from the axle, take it apart and give it a good lube-job on the work bench. . But that probably isn’t possible with your car’s design.
So in theory I could remove the axle from the hub, spin the axle by hand, and see if I still hear the sound to determine if it is the axle or the wheel bearing?
All I can hear from both your last videos is the normal backlash from the diff spider gears and ring & pinion in the diff part of your transaxle…
I bet you had the trans in park… put it in neutral and you will probably get a different feel and noise while doing the same thing as in the videos…
https://www.wittrans.com/img/diagrams/222/222_bell.jpg
#716 is the diff with the spider and side gears
#720 is the ring gear and #730 is the pinion gear…
Checking for a bad axle is done a little different anyway…
Hey thanks. Appreciate the learning opportunity .
How do I check for a bad CV axle, if it does not have a cut boot, and is not clicking when turning.
It was in park. I will turn the car on, put it in neutral, turn the car off, in the next few days and do the same thing, see if I still hear the clicking sound while doing the same thing.
You will still have the same gear lash or play in everything, but now it might turn the diff some since it is not in park given it a different feel and noise…
Don’t overthink it, you have too many irons in the fire right now, lol
BTW Did you turn the steering wheel (NOT the wheel/tire) all the way to lock and turn the key off and just let it sit for a while with the wheels stuck in the full lock position, or just turn the wheel back and forth 20 times??
As simple as I can say it I think:
With the vehicle lifted and not in gear/park.
Turn the outer housing (big metal thing the boot is banded to) clock wise (CW)
while turning the inner (other end) housing (big metal thing the boot is banded to) counter clock wise (CCW). as much as you can
Now turn the outer CCW and the inner CW and feel for any slop, should be pretty tight…
Swap turning CCW and CW back and forth a few times to get a feel for it, if it has a lot of movement (experience comes in handy here) then replace the whole CV axle, if very tight with very minimum movement while twisting then it should be good as long as it does good on the test drive…
Normally your outer joint will click when turning into a parking spot, so very tight turn…
Normally your inner will vibrate mainly under (harder) acceleration only…
An experienced mechanic will know if the axles are bad or good just driving the car, but can rack and raise to further confirm depending on how bad the joints are…
PS and No George, there is not a spec for the amount of movement in an axle as to how much slop is too much slop that I know of, just like the rear spider gears on your truck (with everything still assembled), it is an experience thing, mechanics just know the feel of it basically and that is part of what you pay for… lol
Thanks for the information.
I did rotate the steering wheel and not the tires when trying to bleed the power steering system. I originally attempted it with no key in the ignition, but when spinning it all to the right as far as I could, the steering wheel locked and I could not spin it in the other direction. So I put the key in the ignition and did it with the car on, but engine off. Turned the steering wheel all the way to the right, and then all the way to the left, repeated 20 times, with the cap off the power steering reservoir. I did not have a helper with me, but when I was done I did see a few bubbles on the surface, and the fluid level went down, so I think some air did come out. After the bubbles went away, I did but the lid back on. I did not leave it all the way in the maximum left or right position with the lid off the power steering reservoir for a bit. How long should I leave the steering wheel in the maximum left/right position, with the lid off the power steering reservoir, after going back and forth to the maximum positions several times?
Thanks for the explanation on how to check CV axle. That’s a clear explanation. Basically attempt to turn one end of the axle on the joint in one direction, while attempting to turn the other in the opposite direction, to check for slop. Then repeat going in the opposite directions.
Yes 
No
Once you turn the steering wheel all the way as far as it will go with you putting a little bit of force on trying to turn the steering wheel, then while still holding the steering wheel to full lock, then you turn the key all the way to off so the steering wheel will lock in that position… The power steering will normally/sometimes get much louder when at full lock,
Leave the vehicle for about 20-30 minutes, overnight if you want to.
Then turn the wheel to full lock as described (right above in this post) to the other lock and do as above, leaving the vehicle for 20-30 minutes… Sometimes it only takes a few minutes, but just to be safe, wait the 20-30 minutes…
You might have to put some force turning the steering wheel still to full lock in the same direction as you left it in, in order to turn the key/start the vehicle… That is perfectly normal when doing this… don’t over think it…
Again, just trying to make this as clear as possible as you did not understand or read my directions in the other post talking about bleeding the system…
This is like a dog chasing a group of squirrels…why look at other causes (less likely BTW) when the original issue has not yet been fully resolved?
So why are we now checking clicking of the CV joints??
Sounds like an exhaust leak to me.
Not long ago, I had a similar symptom and it sounded like the PS pump. Turned out to be a pinhole leak in the manifold donut gasket.
My only advice is to stop chasing shiny objects and concentrate on fully resolving the original problem that was known to exist. You don’t need a smoke machine for this but there are vids online for people that have made their own. Use your own senses. Remove any manifold shields and with the car stone cold, start it and feel around for any escaping gas pressures. Look for cracks and other small voids in and around the manifold. If it’s cold out, you may be able to see exhaust smoke/condensation leaking out…
My bad. I think I understand now. Two step process.
With the front end off the ground, power steering reservoir lid off the reservoir, and with the engine running, go back and forth with the steering wheel from maximum left to maximum right positions 10-20 times. Add fluid as necessary as air gets released.
Then go to either the maximum left or maximum right position, turn the key all the way off so the steering wheel locks in the maximum left or maximum right position, leave the vehicle 20-30 minutes. Turn the engine back on so the steering wheel is no longer locked in the maximum left or maximum right position, and go to the maximum opposite direction (left or right), turn the car fully off so the steering wheel will lock, leave the vehicle for 20-30 minutes.
Put the lid back on the power steering reservoir, take car for test drive, and see if I still have whine sound.
Yes that sounds good, just make sure while bleeding the power steering, anytime you turn the steering wheel the engine is running…
The tires can be on the ground, the front tires do not have to be off the ground… but either will work…
Good question. I’ve never had to solve that problem my diy’er-self. The two cars I had with CV joints, VW Rabbit and Corolla, I lubed them periodically, as part routine maintenance. For the Rabbit , I removed the entire axle & lubed both inner and outers; the Corolla, only have lubed the outer. One of the Rabbit’s CV joints failed at about 14 years, and had to be replaced, but it didn’t make any noises prior to failing. Inner as I recall.
Your symptoms aren’t very consistent w/a failing CV joint, so if I were in that situation I’d probably do nothing, just monitor the situation to see if & how it gets worse. The alternative is to proactively remove the entire half shaft and take apart the two CV joints, inner and outer, checking for any obvious problems . With the half shaft on the bench it might be possible to easily re-lube the two CV joints, in a fashion anyway. Good time to also spin the wheel independent of the half shaft. So worse case, even if all that produces no resolution to the noise, at least you’ve rejuvenated the half shaft
So I did the following to help bleed the power steering system
Exhaust Leak Check
I guess it is possible that there’s pin hole exhaust leaks in the exhaust manifold, on the underside of it. I couldn’t get a good view of it to observe if there were or were not bubbles forming from my soapy solution, as it is mounted in the vehicle. I’m not sure how I could check for pin hole leaks in the exhaust manifold to confirm that there aren’t any on the bottom side of it, that is not viewable while mounted in the car.
===
What should my next step be to further diagnose this issue? I guess the next thing I could do is take off the belt and pressing on the accelerator with the belt off, to see if I still hear the sound. The tensioner on this car is a pain. The external hex on the casting to release tension for the tensioner often snaps, it’s not an actual steel bolt.
I think replacing the power steering pump over the exhaust manifold would be cheaper to rule one out over the other.