[trpletz]

I found a leak in the power steering pressure hose, located on hose end where it connects to the steering rack, on my wife's 2006 Sienna. My mechanic replaced the hose with an aftermarket part. That’s when my power steering pump started whining.

I installed a new power steering fluid reservoir and replaced some of the non-pressurized hoses and clamps; didn’t fix the problem.

I had my mechanic install a remanufactured MAVAL power steering pump but the whine was still present. I had my mechanic install a Toyota OEM power steering pump but the whine is still there.

I got a second opinion from another shop before installing the OEM pump and they told me there was no air present in the system. They thought it was the power steering pump as well.

I find it hard to believe that two different pumps could be bad right out of the box…especially an OEM part. Is it possible that the aftermarket high pressure line could be causing the whining noise somehow?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BillG]

Yes. The high pressure line is probably junk and introducing air into the system or may have some kind of restriction. I've read about complaints on here about air-leaky lines which do exactly this. There may That said, you typically see air bubbles coming out into the reservoir by turning the wheel lock to lock, and, being mechanics, I would assume they know/did this. So, it's actually possible that 2 out-of-the-box pumps are bad. However, I don't believe this, for one simple reason. You had a good pump. You replaced a high pressure line. Noise started. That's all you need to know to be 100% certain that the high pressure line is bad.