Weird noise after hard left turning.

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.

Reply to
R2D2
Loading thread data ...

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.
Reply to
451ctds

Did you check your power steering fluid level?

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

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE ~_~_~258,600 miles_~_~~_
Reply to
Harry Face

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.

Reply to
R2D2

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..

Reply to
Robert Hancock

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

Reply to
Sam Tosi(punctuation!)

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.

Reply to
R2D2

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

R2D2 wrote:

Reply to
Geoff Welsh

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.