Power steering pump faulty?

[pauljupp]

steering grinding noise

hi there im new to this site, has anyone come across this, at idle speed i am getting really bad grinding noise, even after you have drove for a while ,when parking i still get the grinding noise, the car is an alhambra 2.0 ltr petrol 1997 with aircon, i have heard that it may be a seized pully , but dont no what im looking for , i have started it up and lookd at all the pullys and they all seem to be turning , any help would be great thanx.

 

[pauljupp]

grinding noise

I would think the one way pulley on the alternator has seized. Easy way to check, with the engine off use a small screwdriver and very gently try to turn the fan blades in the alternator one way, then the other. If it moves one way then its fine, if its stuck it needs a new pulley.

hi there techie, i have a alhambra 2.0ltr petrol1997, and have the same grinding noise as others on this site , i have started the car and all pullys look as if they are working fine, noise is mainly when at idle and trying to park , what would you suggest i do next , im lost please help if you can paulj. my alternator dont look to have any fans on it???.

 

[pauljupp]

I would think the one way pulley on the alternator has seized. Easy way to check, with the engine off use a small screwdriver and very gently try to turn the fan blades in the alternator one way, then the other. If it moves one way then its fine, if its stuck it needs a new pulley.

hi there techie, i have a alhambra 2.0ltr petrol1997, and have the same grinding noise as others on this site , i have started the car and all pullys look as if they are working fine, noise is mainly when at idle and trying to park , what would you suggest i do next , im lost please help if you can paulj. my alternator dont look to have any fans on it???.

 

[alexpb22]

Has anyone managed to get to the bottom of this as I'm currently trying to deal with the same problem, unsuccessfully so far?

 

[dgjdrummer]

As was mentioned above, it could be the alternator pulley if it's the "clutch" type as these seize and start to judder and make a rumbling kind of noise at idle or when turning. Try taking the aux belt off and leaving the car idle, if the noise foes away then it's most likely that.

Try swapping the pulley and the aux belt tensioner, both doable diy jobs in under an hour and solved my noise.

 

[alexpb22]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not mechanically minded so will have to take it to a garage. Already had the tensioner and belt replaced so maybe its the alternator. Its good for me to point them in the right direction cos one garage said it was the power steering and I didn't want to pay £500 for that if it didn't sort it. Next garage said that belt had loads of grease on it after it was changed by first garage. They cleaned it up and it was better for about a day but then returned. Getting cam belt done next week so will talk to them about alternator pulley.

 

[alexpb22]

Thought I'd just let people know that I had my car fixed for this problem at a garage and it was exactly as everyone has said above. I had already taken it to a couple of garages who said I needed to change power steering pump which I was reluctant to do so I quoted some of the comments on here about the likely problem and it has totally been fixed. It's been about six months and it hasn't come back so thanks everyone for your thoughts and help.