2000 4R, 2.7L w 155k miles.

Recently when starting in the morning temps have been in the 20s, I'm getting a loud whine from the power steering pump. The whine goes away and sounds like normal after a min or two.

Checked fluid and its full. Removed 2 oz and replaced with lucas PS stop leak. No change in sound at cold start this morning.

Ive read that there is a screen that gets clogged with these year models. Could this be my problem?

All else seems fine other than the loud whine when cold.

Sounds just like a pump with no fluid.

Thanks for any advice.

I've had that problem before, I just waited until it warmed up a bit and went away.
Could be there's a little moisture on the fluid that is freezing up when it's too cold.

Been happening to me since new on really cold days.
Pretty much normal. Don't stress it.

I would let your truck get warm prior to driving it. It just lets all of the fluid reach operating temps, and is less stressful on smaller components. I should probably take my own advice, but I like sleeping in before work. ;)

Powersteering fluid won't get "warm" until it's in use. Check your local parts store, they make cold weather power steering fluid that might remedy the situation.

With the belt spinning on the PS pump, it doesn't get the fluid warm at all? I was referring to all fluids, prior to driving, but it is an honest question.

The only reason I brought up letting the truck warm up was because I have this issue too, and that always seems to remedy it.

Its actually better to drive the vehicle gently until it warms up. Long idling especially while cold is not good.

It's not that it isn't good, it just doesn't get the truck warm as fast. If your in freezing temperatures and your oil thickens, you want to idle to let it flow easier. Unless your a tree hugging hippie, then yes, it isn't good.

But I should also mention that I am discussing around 2-3 minute idling prior to getting in my truck. I have the remote start, and I usually turn it on when I'm finishing breakfast and putting my shoes on. So I let it sit for about 2-3 minutes. Long idling, especially after it is warmed is just pointless, I agree.

But when I forget to remote start and I hop in, I do get the power steering whine and that is just my observation.

Resistance generates heat, the amount of heat generated in a p/s pump would be marginal at idle I think. I guess it might be enough to slightly warm the fluid, but I'd think engine compartment temps would do a better job at heating the reservior on cold days.

If it's that cold, then you should still be fine with about 30 seconds to a minute of idling, or even consider a block warmer or something similar. Just letting it idle for lengths of time on end isn't good for the motor or the environment, especially when cold. The computer knows the engine is cold and will adjust fuel/air accordingly, there is no reason to keep the motor running for very long to warm it up. It is better to have the engine under load instead of chugging away freely with the colder tolerances. If the vehicle warms up quicker by driving, then it would make sense that the oil would also warm up quicker. So if you keep it idling long enough, parts are still going to be cold and not protected as much. You need to get it up to operating temp as quickly as possible for best conditions, and that would be to drive it. Then the oil warms up quicker and in turn protects the internals better. You could be idling in the cold and have little to no oil protection while it's idling, and that's going to create unnecessary wear and tear on the engine. If your vehicle is newer than 1988 (electronic fuel injection), drive the vehicle to warm it up with minimal idling.

Very good points. Thanks for the reply, that makes sense.

Hold on, I think we agree on most of it, but what do you consider "long idling"? 2 minutes is a long idle? My oil temp gauge is still resting at the 0 mark after 2 minutes. I'm asking because I agree with most of what you said, and we are arguing but reiterating each other.

You wrote a long comment, and I might have made my previous post update before you got to read it all.

Lol, I think 2 minutes would be fine. I'm just trying to say that if you use idling for the main purpose of warming up the engine (say like 10-15 mins or longer) that's gonna create more problems than help. I wouldn't worry too much under 5 minutes, just have a schedule or plan just like you do to only idle when you're about to leave.

My moms Camry does the same thing and this is the 2nd one that has done it. It's not a big deal just act as if its not there. There's nothing you can safely do because you HAVE to use ATF for power steering fluid in these. Unless toyota made the 2.7 different then the3.4 but I think they'd use the same steering rack for it

Update:

30* this morning, no noise at all after a day of driving with the Lucas PS fluid.

I guess it did the job?

That being said, Im going to go ahead and flush the fluid. It looked brown before adding the Lucas.

I had this same issue on my 4Runner, the truck would whine louder the colder it got.

I used a 60 ml syringe and some tubing I found in the toss bin at the OR I work at and sucked out all the old fluid and refilled with mobil 1 ATF. I repeated about 6 times until the fluid started looking red. The whine is gone and the steering effort is much less than it used to be.