Just bought a MY99 turbo and I have noticed a whine which seems to happen when I turn. I am fairly sure this is from the power steering. Searching the forum it seems a fluid top-up is required. How urgently must I do this, can it cause damage? Should I drain the fluid and refill it with fresh fluid?

I also can hear noise when I turn my steering column, as well as the whine I can heer a grinding noise, possibly from the column.

Checked the fluid and its actually over-filled. Could this be the problem? How much noise should the power steering make? Should I take it to the dealer? It should be covered by warranty.

The scooby's steering is noisy.

Does the whine rise and fall in pitch with the engine revs when you are not turning the steering wheel? If so, then there's prob cavitation somewhere and I'd change the fluid for a start.

Give the power steering cooler a scrub to clean off any accumulated grit also. Its next to the right headlamp behind the front grill.

Do make sure it is not underfilled. If its whining, just put in somemore ATF. It has worked for me and others on this site. Dunno what the explanation is though.

Keep us posted.

Had my car serviced today and told the engineer about a whining noise when turning the wheel, more so from cold. Will do it constantly when on full lock. Mechanic said cambelt was dry and squirted something like wd-40 on the flywheel. Guess wot...no more whine!

The whine does seem to increase with engine revs and increases when I turn to full lock. How would I go about draining the fluid? Is there a drain plug and are there any special precautions?

There could be a whine from one of the belts too but that would not explain the increase in noise when I turn full lock. I will check out the belts for condition and tension as soon as possible.

To: Keyser Soze
I believe you mean the power steering "pulley" was dry and not "flywheel"? Also, the "power steering belt" is not called the "cambelt".

Sorry, it took me some figuring to realise what you actually meant.