power steering noise

[dungbeetle46]

hi, have vs exec and just started groaning when turning the wheel, wondering if anyone has come across this and know the problem, thanks in advance

 

[Infus10n]

min does it a bit too sometimes. I hope its just ageing and nothing expensive and technical. The car handles fine and turns good just sometimes makes some noise, atm im not too worried about it, what do you guys think is the real problem?

 

[Bax]

do a search mate, its been covered.

as far as i thought it was a normal wheel when under load. turning without the car rolling forward.. low speeds etc.. others thought it could be more serious.

 

[nathanb]

My dad has a VP Exec that started making this awful grinding noise all the time, even for things like going around slight curves or changing lanes. You could actually feel the grinding when you turned the wheel. It turned out the power steering pump needed replacing.

I've got a VR Berlina that also makes a grinding noise but only at low speeds and/or when the steering is close to hard lock. It's nowhere near as loud and you can't feel anything in the steering. But to be on the safe side I thought I'd ask my mechanic about it. He's the same bloke that looks after my dad's car so he knew what I was talking about. He reckons the steering in most Commodores gets a bit noisy after about 8-10 years and normally it's nothing to worry about.

So most likely it's just normal wear and tear in your car. If it is the power steering pump you'll know... because it sounds terrible!

 

[brock]

my old vr used to do that and it ended up being the power steering level was a bit low and once topped up it was fine.

 

[oblong]

Temporary fix

To lighten the load on the power steering pump and rack consider the following:

- Make sure the power steering fluid is full (consider changing it if its looking mucky, this can put new life into old units).

- Higher tyre pressures on the front wheels, this reduces the load on the power steering system but with other drawbacks such as a rougher ride. When i say higher I mean at or slightly above the rated pressrue of the tyre (make sure you fill the tyre when its cold and not after you have been driving all day).

-Dont take the wheel to full lock, it sounds nastly when you do it so just dont, its not nice!

 

[MaNiac_VP]

oblong has some really good points there which I totally agree with.

The grinding noise sounds like low oil pressure, check the level - if its really low you will see lots of tiny bubbles in the resevoir.

A swapover pump will set you back about 120 dollars and should be a nice easy 15 minute job.

Note I have done a few of these and even with a brand new pump there is a still a bit of a noise.

Cheers Paul

 

[LeojVS]

I had my power steerer replaced a while ago, and it still makes a noise, with very little to be done about it. New pump, hoses, fluid bottle and an inline filter. Works real nice. Just a little noisy

 

[hako]

I think people are confusing "groaning" with "grinding"....groaning seems pretty normal with many but not all Commodores and is part of the deal and nothing to be concerned with. My Commo has a reco unit with 40000km on it and still groans. Grinding indicates something different and to my way of thinking would tell me that something is going to fail pretty soon.