Turns out my system just had air in it. Also seems the air is particularly hard to purge on these cars, likely because the reservoir is away from the pump, rather than the pump being submersed like most cars.
I had done the wheels off the ground and steer to both sides thing a few times, but this had no effect, so I was certain the pump was making the noise.
Ended up following a service bulletin where you buy this butt plug that allows you to apply vacuum to the P/S for a few mins to get the air bubble to expand and rise to the top. I didn't think it was going to do anything, but $30 for a custom rubber cork with a tube through it somehow didn't seem so bad, and it worked. No more noise. I had to repeat it 3-4 times over a few days, though, to get all the air out. Crazy. The tranny fluid seems to hold air and foam more than P/S fluid, as well. Wonder how many racks and pumps have been replaced when it was just air.
D
just as a fyi. i work at a shop around the corner from a chr.dodge,jeep > store
> and we get alot of steering noise complaints after they have gone to the > dealer
> with no results except for power steering flush, the dealer did not work > or
> noise came back
> we seen enough to go out and buy our tester and 8 out of ten times the > tester
> shows a pump issue.
> again glenn have you used your shop tester at all???
>
> maxpower wrote:
>
>> > you know i find it funny that the dealers are required to have a power
>> > steering pressure tester that narrows down to the exact cause of power
>> > steering noise and issues trhat cause the noise and the dealer techs >> > never
>> > use it that i know of.
>> > do you glen?
>> > they just seem to guess as to what causes the steering noise is
>> > my boss went on ebay and bought one new in the box from a dealer that >> > went
>> > out of bizz. and it still was in the sealed box as was all the special >> > fittings
>> >
>> > Steph wrote:
>> >
>> > > "Dll" wrote in
>> > > news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:
>> > >
>> > > > Kind of a whining/groaning sound at all RPM's. Seemed no brainer >> > > > to
>> > > > me that it was the pump, so I replaced that. However, to my >> > > > surprise,
>> > > > it had zero effect on the problem. I've read some TSB's about the
>> > > > lines causing similar problems, and that extending the return line
>> > > > effects "shudder" at low speed, so last night I get under there and
>> > > > notice they are vibrating pretty good. Anyone have any similar
>> > > > experience? I'd like to know exactly what's going on before I dump >> > > > a
>> > > > bunch of time into replacing the gear, when maybe it was just the >> > > > hoses.
>> > > >
>> > > > J
>> > >
>> > > I have a 2002 GC that HAD that problem.
>> > > I believe for the 2002, there was recall C-20 to take care of it.
>> > > Basically replace the hydraulilc lines. When they heat up the bend >> causes
>> > > the hose to pinch - thus the noise you hear when it's cold is the >> > > fluid
>> > > squeezing past the collapsed kink of the hose.
>> > >
>> > > Of course they replaced the entire rack/pin assembly [to no effect]
>> > > before the recall notice came out.
>> >
>>
>> This is the time of the year when all the Power steering noises start to
>> come back. As I stated last year, It isn't a pressure problem that we are
>> seeing in the shop, Its a flow (restriction) or air in the system >> problem
>> and most are fixed performing TSB's, repairing the leak or flushing the
>> system. Check the Archives and see how complaints there have been on >> Power
>> steering noises in the fall spring or summer.I cant remember when the >> last
>> time I had to replace a power steering pump to fix a steering issue. I >> use
>> any special tool if I feel it is needed to diagnose a problem
>