Power Steering Noise?

[bigfld63]

I have a 2005 exp 4wd 4.0L. Over the past few weeks I have had a humming sound coming from the front end. Its faint when driving straight but turning the wheel to left even 1/4" the noise gets louder. The noise gets louder the harder you turn to the left. No noise when I turn to the right. Bad bearings right...well I have checked all four bearings, no play, or grinding in any of them.

So I recruited my father-in-law to help diagnose and after driving and checking the bearings again he doesn't think it is bearings either. He suggested replacing the power steering pump.

Would the pump make that much noise? why only on left turns? Is the pump the place to start or would you try hub assemblies first?

Thanks.

 

[BigRondo]

I have a 2005 exp 4wd 4.0L. Over the past few weeks I have had a humming sound coming from the front end. Its faint when driving straight but turning the wheel to left even 1/4" the noise gets louder. The noise gets louder the harder you turn to the left. No noise when I turn to the right. Bad bearings right...well I have checked all four bearings, no play, or grinding in any of them.

So I recruited my father-in-law to help diagnose and after driving and checking the bearings again he doesn't think it is bearings either. He suggested replacing the power steering pump.

Would the pump make that much noise? why only on left turns? Is the pump the place to start or would you try hub assemblies first?

Thanks.

Welcome to the forum!


Since turning to the left makes the noise louder and turning to the right makes the noise go away, this leads me to believe it is a wheel bearing.

Try turning the wheel while you are not moving. If you hear noise then check the power steering. Did you check the power steering fluid level and look for leaks?

If you only hear the noise when you are moving then check the bearings. No play does not necessarily mean that the bearing isn't on it's way out. It needs to wear to a certain point to allow play.

Hope this helps out. :biggthump

 

[bigfld63]

Plenty of fluid in the system, no leaks and can't really hear the noise when I turn the wheel at rest.

93K on the bearings makes me think they are the culprit too I just can't afford to change them just to make sure.

 

[BigRondo]

Plenty of fluid in the system, no leaks and can't really hear the noise when I turn the wheel at rest.

93K on the bearings makes me think they are the culprit too I just can't afford to change them just to make sure.

I hear you there!! How about jacking it up 1 wheel at a time and spinning the wheel to see if you hear anything?

 

[bigfld63]

Yeah checked each wheel one at a time. No grinding at all. I noticed on other posts that sometimes vibration can be felt in the suspension so I checked that too and could feel nothing.

 

[BigRondo]

Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in.

 

[bigfld63]

Update - Just change both front bearings this morning and NO MORE NOISE! Once I got the old bearings off I could feel that the left bearing was grinding a good bit.

Thanks for the help.

 

[BigRondo]

No problem. Glad you got it fixed. Thanks for updating!!