Today, I made a really tight (almost 90degree turn, steering-wheel turned
all the way left) and fairly fast left-turn onto a parking lot to avoid
incoming traffic. After that the car makes a loud annoying sound everytime
I turn the steering wheel (left or right), loud enough that other people
outside will turn at look. I can't really describe the sound, it certainly
is low pitch, almost like someone rubbing to piece of wood together, and it
doesn't sound like metals are rubbing each other. So anyway, after turning
the wheel for a while it wouldn't stop, so I turned off the engine and wait
a few minutes. After a couple minutes I turn the car on again, and the
noise seemed to subside, to almost unnoticeable, but not quite disappeared
yet. So it seems there is still some noise whenever I turn the steering
wheel now. What could be the problem and how expensive am I looking to
spend? I can think of a few things but I could be wrong. Could it be
steering pump is almost gone? could it be rack and pinion? or perhaps
balljoint? I hope to hear some opinion and perhaps a method to track down
where the noise come from.

Car Stats: 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, 2.8L V6 173 engine, FWD,
automatic, AC. has 169500km on it.
Recent service: Transmission oil change about 5000km ago. Engine oil
about 500km ago. Putted in a new alternator in April (did it myself). Car
drives good otherwise.

What kind of car ? Front wheel drive ? Rear wheel drive ? 4 x 4 ? All
three use different suspensions.

My knowledge stops at rear wheel drive, my guess is
suspect motor mounts, a wimpy mount might have caused
the engine to move a bit, which affects everything, but looks fine upon
casual examination. Put a jack under engine, and verify mounts are good. A
transmission mount could do the same thing. As for front wheel drives,
4X 4 's and other non rear wheel drives, there are posters on this group who
should have an angle as I have no knowledge in this area.

Did you check your power steering fluid level?

=========
Harryface
=========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE
~_~_~258,600 miles_~_~~_

yeah... I unscrew the cap and looked at the tip of the thin stick and see
that there is liquid on it, according to what I was told
if you see there are some liquid on the tip it means its ok. Although i
wonder if it is ok to fill the reservoir all the way to the top??

By the way, the noise I was trying to describe sounds like the hum from
movies that has submarines in it. Almost every movie
I see which has submarine, they will play this noise. Can't describe it but
next time you watch tv show you will know what I mean.

"Harry Face" <harryface (AT) webtv (DOT) net> wrote

There should be a fill line on the stick attached to the cap, probably one
for hot (H) and one for cold (C). It should be filled up more than just
touching the end of the stick..

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from hancockr (AT) nospamshaw (DOT) ca
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/


"R2D2" <throne8 (AT) rogers (DOT) com> wrote

"Robert Hancock" <hancockr (AT) nospamshaw (DOT) ca> wrote


On my 88 Celebrity with the 2.8, the full H mark I believe is around the
middle of the stick, right where it starts angling upwards.

-Sam

I fill up the steering fluid the other day, and it seems the noise is a less
now. Maybe it was the steering fluids
after all. Is it safe to leave it at that or should I take more
preventative action such as having the steering pump checked etc.

"Robert Hancock" <hancockr (AT) nospamshaw (DOT) ca> wrote

I, myself, wouldn't worry about it.
Turn up the radio.
GW



R2D2 wrote: