someone can help me here? on cold startups, when i turn full-lock to the right, there's always this squeaking 'metal needs to be lubricated sound'. i'm pretty sure it only happens when i full-lock to the right and goes away after the car is warmed up. yeeeeep........ y'all might say it's the drive belts but i already got both of em changed last year and it didn't solve a thing. i'm guessing it's either bad power steering fluid or the steering rack/pinion has a problem. but the dude at mitsu was quoting over a $100 for a full fluid flush but no way i'm gonna pay that shit for new power steering fluid when a bottle just costs a couple of dollars... :roll: any other suggestions? :D

Well...Im not exactly sure what that sound is...but it could be fluid, you need to bleed the power steering, which I'll explain how to do in a second.

Firstly though, with power steering you shouldn't hit the bump stops, you *should* never hit full-lock, if you do, just ease it off a little and then you'll still have the same angle (or very very close) without putting stress on the steering.

As for bleeding the steering (I dunno if this is what the mitsu place meant by a flush but it could be). Fill your power steering up to the right mark, you should have the car running when filling it up. Then turn your steering wheel all the way to the left and then the right, without hitting full-lock. Do that a few times (say 3-4 times I cant remember the exact number to do..but that would be about right) and then take it back to the middle and check the level of the fluid again. If it needs more then fill it up and repeat the process until the level stays as it was when you filled it.

I had to do that once and I've never had a steering related noise again.

i don't exactly have to go full-lock to get that sound. once i start turning the wheel, the sound comes out. it goes away once i've got out of the garage and onto the road, so apparently it only happens at parking speeds.

anyway i just came back from mitsu but nothing came out cos the sound didn't appear!! :evil: don't you just hate it when you've got something to show the mechanic but the problem doesn't appear??!!! anyway he said to leave the car with em' for the morning so they can find out exactly where the sound comes from but i don't really wanna do that cos they'll prob come up with a $200 repair bill for me.

Interesting. I suffered something like this after my last service when the belt was replaced. They replaced the belt as it had started to fray and it's all good.

Well...Im not exactly sure what that sound is...but it could be fluid, you need to bleed the power steering, which I'll explain how to do in a second.

Firstly though, with power steering you shouldn't hit the bump stops, you *should* never hit full-lock, if you do, just ease it off a little and then you'll still have the same angle (or very very close) without putting stress on the steering.

As for bleeding the steering (I dunno if this is what the mitsu place meant by a flush but it could be). Fill your power steering up to the right mark, you should have the car running when filling it up. Then turn your steering wheel all the way to the left and then the right, without hitting full-lock. Do that a few times (say 3-4 times I cant remember the exact number to do..but that would be about right) and then take it back to the middle and check the level of the fluid again. If it needs more then fill it up and repeat the process until the level stays as it was when you filled it.

I had to do that once and I've never had a steering related noise again.

killbilly what kind of noise did you experience that time?

It was the groaning sound you get when you turn the wheel, typical sound you get when there is little to no fluid left. When you get that sound you should really do the bleeding to get rid of any air in the lines.

I also had another sound later on after installing the new steering wheel.

There is a little (not sure about 3rd gens) piece of metal on a spring behind the boss that rubs along it to provide the earth for the horn. It's supposed to have a little grease on it...but being a new boss it didnt, and I didnt know about it. That sound was a soft metal on metal scraping sound every time I turned the wheel. All I did was put a bit of grease on the metal where the earth pin rubs and it stopped the noise.