Yesterday my girlfriend noticed a high pitched chirping noise coming from my front end when we were driving. used my old truck to jumpstart her dad's car, and while I was under the hood, I revved the engine with the lever that the throttle cable pulls on. The weird chirping sound seems to be coming from the power steering pump. I checked the reservoir, it wasn't low. Is this an early sign that the power steering pump may be on its way out?
I forgot to add that the fluid has seen much better days, haha... it's pretty much black. I'm considering flushing, and/or siphoning out old fluid and replacing it with new fluid, since Scotty has mentioned that old, dirty power steering fluid can act like crude cutting fluid. I'd rather not eventually yank a rack as well. The sound only happened when the truck had been driven a good ways. That seems to indicate to me that it may be pulley bearings going bad, not necessarily the actual pump. There are no steering problems, and it does not leak fluid. The fan belt is also brand new as of last October and shows no signs of wear.
It is a good idea to change the fluid couple of times to have a clear one. Hopefully, this solves your issue.
