Power steering whine (did a search)

[JRA2000TL]

I am not sure what's wrong with my power steering, but it seems to whine really loud, even if the car is just sitting there in N idling. I initially thought it was the water pump bearings but the PO replaced the water pump. I do have steering issues. When I told the wheel into a turn, it does want to wobble or fight back and forth slightly (which is a sign of a shot rack). Also when backing up and turning at the same time, it really likes to make a grunt noise. When driving down the road at any regular rate of speed, if I turn sharply, it's almost as if the car still wants to go straight for 1 sec. then turns.

Now, my question is, will doing the vacuum purge procedure help this, or do I need to set aside time and money for a new steering system?

I looked up the vacuum procedure on SHOTimes but I'm confused. Basically what I got from it is you perform the following:

1. Unhook the p/s lines from the cooler (whatever that thing looks like). and let the fluid drain into a pan.
2. Start the car and turn the wheel lock to lock about 15 times or until you hear a sucking noise from the resivoir (hold the wheel about 5 seconds at each lock).
3. Re-fill and repeat #2.
4. Shut the car off, reconnect and clamp the line, and refill the resivoir.
5. Start the car and repeat #2.

Is that it?

I figured I would try that as it's pretty easy and not too time consuming first.

 

[itwonder]

Try flushing the system; I think that is what you are referring to. You have it basically right, except you need to be pouring fluid into the reservoir as rapidly as it is coming out of the disconnected line, which is quite rapid! It's best to have three people, one turning the wheel, one pouring fresh fluid into the reservoir, and one monitoring the hose going into the bucket looking for the fluid to become totally fresh. You should run at least a gallon of fluid through it, and cheap Supertech Dexron ATF from Walmart is fine for this job.