Power Steering Groan '95 4runner

[OCMike]

A few weeks ago, my power steering started groaning when I'd start the truck and slowly turn the wheel left or right. After the truck warmed up, the groan disappeared. As a precaution, I took it back to where I purchased it and they replaced the belt. Apparently, they wrong size was installed before. Well, that fixed the problem for about 2 weeks. Now, today, the groan is back. Only now, it happens whenever I'm stopped and slowly turn the wheel. And it feels like it's getting harder to turn the steering wheel. I don't see any fluid leaks at all. No puddles anywhere under the vehicle in my parking spot.

Do any of you thing the pump might be going bad? I'm going down later to check the fluid level to see if some magically disappeared, also.

 

[Richard_]

how is the level on the fluid ? I had a similar problem until I changed it over from p/s fluid to ATF , it makes a difference , I thought I had a bad pump

 

[OCMike]

I checked the fluid level and it was extremely low. I just filled it less than 2 weeks ago too. So it looks like I must have a leak somewhere. The next question is where? Does Power steering fluid leave a spot on the ground like other fluids do? My parking spot is clean. Not a single drip anywhere. So where is the fluid going?

Of course, I live in a condo and I'm not allowed to do any maintenance on my truck at all. I try to get away with small things so I may be able to check around underneath to see if I can find anything. And me being a novice at auto repair, I don't know where to look first. Any suggestions?

 

[fourwd1]

Locate 2 vacuum hoses going to the PS pump.
Pull them off and plug them up, and cap the 2 ports you just pulled them off of.
Top off the PS resevoir, run it awhile, and see if the problem goes away.

 

[OCMike]

So if I do that and it resolves the problem, what does that mean?

 

[OCMike]

OOPS!

So last week, I put regular power steering fluid in the reservoir. Then, yesterday I poured the rest of the bottle in. Of course, I didn't know that I'm supposed to use ATF instead. I'm going down to the truck now and see if I can siphon out the fluid and replace with ATF.

That doesn't fix my mysterious disappearing fluid, but at least I'll have the correct fluid in.