So my 2000 cherokee started making this whining sound when turning the steering wheel. It doesn't appear to be making turning the car difficult. Also seems to happen more when moving slow.

I checked the power steering fluid and it's still pretty full. Not sure if it just needs to be changed or if there is something in the PS that is on it's way out. How often am i supposed to change power steering fluid?

At 110k miles.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I know this is somewhat vague, but i'm not too familiar with power steering issues.

 

Belt is clean and tight?
You could use a turkey baster to suck the fluid out of the PS pump and add some fresh. Repeat a couple of times.

 

Suggest using Valvoline MAX LIFE Power Steering Fluid. It has anti-foaming additives in it, that actually work.

After you replace the fluid run the engine for a few minutes then look in the reservoir with a flashlight. If you see foaming let it sit until the bubbles are all gone then run the engine again to circulate the fluid. Suck the old fluid out again and refill. Repeat as above until clean fluid appears in your removed fluid.

 

great info. I'll look into that. Hopefully that solves the problem, there isn't a line on the side of the reservoir to show where it's to be filled to. I assume not to the top. Mine is down about 5-6 inches from the top.

 

There's a dipstick on the cap, marked cold and hot. If there's no dipstick you have the wrong cap or it was broke off. You will need a cap with a dipstick inorder to service the reservoir properly. Dealer/junkyard.

 

Wait...Are we talking about the same reservoir? What does 5-6" from the top mean. The power steering pump reservoir is only about 3-4" deep.


Is the reservoir you are looking at white, with some greenish fluid in it, located on the passenger side of the engine bay? Is so, that's the radiator overflow resrvoir. The power steering pump reservoir is attached to the back of the power steering pump.

 

I know what I'm looking at. It's about 6" deep. Looks kind of low and def not at right level for temperature. Odd that at autozone their system say they don't carry the correct fluid however they have the max life Valvoline. I'll siphon out what is in there and replace with Max life

 

If it's that low you have other problems. But you will need a cap with a dipstick.

Valvoline Max Life is what you want.

 

Thanks. I added it. I got the jeep 4 years ago and put 15k on it. Fluid was only a little low but black. Seems like the whining already went away. Hope there is no leak but with these trucks it wouldn't surprise me as little things just keep going on them but they don't die.

 

Good work.

Do the suck out and refill thing several times until you get fairly clean fluid out.

Dipstick cap?

 

So far looks like my problem was solved. The cap still had the dipstick. I have it between H and C. I siphoned as much out as possible and refilled then siphoned more out and refilled. It's relatively clean now. No more whining noise and seems to be much better. Old fluid was black, couldn't have been good.

Curious what's next to go, something tells me the truck probably needs new spark plugs, transmission fluid, or transfer case fluid changed. I haven't changed any of those and when I got it with 95k.

Thanks Ken

 

The whining was because it was low on fluid. It will happen again. You probably have a leak. You can nurse it along for a long time like that though, if you just keep an eye on the level and refill as needed.

I would suggest looking around on the hoses and fittings and see if you can see any telltale fluid. There is a high pressure line and a return line, and the leak will most likely be on the high pressure line. The high pressure hose has a metal crimped connection where the steel line attaches to the rubber hose, and they particularly like to leak at that connection when the power steering system is under strain. Based on the age of the truck, it's about time for it to fail.

Mine was actually spraying fluid from that connection whenever I was at full lock in either direction. The fluid would hit the exhaust downpipe and smoke like a ****. Parallel parking left a noxious cloud. I nursed it along for a long time like that by just refilling as necessary, until I finally decided to get off my lazy butt and replace that line. The line was in stock locally and the replacement took less than 20 minutes.

 

The name of the game with these Heeps is preventive maintenance. 95k is way beyond changing fluids. The transfer case should be next on your list, next the transmission. Use the same ATF in both - Dexron III/Mercon.

After that, the differentials.

If the Heep is running okay the plugs can wait.