Well there's this sound clip I took earlier this week (you can hear a vibration rattling sound that was coming from the pump, and 2nd half when I rev the motor it was giving a shrieking chirping sound you can hear), the rattling vibration sound has been coming from the PS area for a while, then a couple days after that video there was a chirping sound almost like you hear with a noisy belt. But only when going straight... Then yesterday when leaving for work, turned on the car and it made the most horrid sound like you'd hear dragging a pan across the ground, it was so loud. And it changed with turning the wheel and the steering felt like there was no assist behind it. I also took a pic when I took the sound clip and the PS pump area has an odd reddish dust that I have no idea what it's from. Since the alternator is right there, I hope it's not that instead... 🙏
What did you do with your s60 today?
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That reddish dust is usually the alternator brushes, but could also just be rust buildup. That sound almost sounds more like the serpentine belt tensioner or possibly a VVT hub.
Hmm... I don't see any of that red dust around the alternator itself... I'll try to get a sound clip of the sound it's making now. I still feel that replacing the pump isn't a bad idea. I have a newer reservoir and hose to put on that I had gotten from ScottishBrick. Also I'd note, I'm not getting any OBD codes so I'm pretty confident it's not the VVT hub, though I don't honestly know what it would sound like or symptoms of a bad or failed one would be. I can run VIDA on it tonight as well to see what other if any codes may come up.
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The VVT hubs don't usually throw codes, but will make grinding noises, typically on startup. My 2000 R will make a quick grinding noise on startup, but no noise while running.
This is definitely noise while running. It started out as a constant chirping which I thought maybe was the serp belt. But the next day, the really loud grinding chirp sound I heard and steering that basically felt unpowered.
Sound clip of what I'm hearing. It's not as bad today as it was a couple days ago but I haven't driven it since then either. I'd say it's the belt, but not this loud I don't think and especially with the ticking I've heard previously from the PS... Video clip of that sound here...
Already starting to work on it. Had to turn my car around in the driveway so that the PS side isn't in the direct 105° sun today while I work on it... 🥵 But when doing that I had almost no assisted steering which to me confirms it's indeed the pump. Also it has resistance to it when spinning the freed pulley wheel by hand compared to the new pump I have in hand. For anyone doing a PS pump replace, I highly recommend watching the A-1 Auto video on this. No disrespect to FCP, I love Jason's videos, but A-1 is more thorough and includes flushing the system by briefly running the car with the upper PS reservoir hose disconnected and aimed into a pan until fresh fluid comes out. Also a T55 torx works on the tensioner, so T60 isn't required. I say this since the Harbor Freight 3/8 torx socket set only goes up to T55 and I thought I'd need to go get a T60 one... The A-1 video shows them using a T55 in place and works like a charm! 🙌
Yea Matt, flushing the system is a must! You don't have to run the engine. Just have the front of the car lifted.Turn the steering wheel lock to lock while catching the old fluid into something. Keep pouring fresh Pentosin into the resevior while doing so. Use at least 1qt.for the flush. You will need your significant other to turn the steering wheel as ya do it.
Just about done... Pondering how to flush with the updated reservoir that has both inlet and outlet at the bottom... In the course of putting a new belt on, I was spinning the idler pulley on the tensioner... It spun like it had 0 friction... I recalled reading a pulley wheel that spins freely like that is no good. I don't have time to order a new one and wait, so I got creative. For whatever reason my I'm assuming factory tensioner (it's an INA like the Volvo one is ) has a bolt on pulley wheel. I removed the tensioner and then removed the pulley wheel from it. I was able to carefully open it and thoroughly clean out the bearings inside and repacked it with some high temp grease and press snapped the cover back on and it spun like it should. Nice and smooth and only a few revolutions like it should by hand. I know that at the least a new pulley wheel should have been used, but I was in a pinch, wife was out for the mid day and I didn't want to hope the local chains had a wheel in stock. This should be good for a while anyways. I was lucky that I had just enough of the red high temp grease on hand to pack the bearings with. That whole process only took an additional half hour. I'm including a couple pics of how the bearings inside the wheel pulley looked and the cover that keeps it mostly sealed when I first cracked it open, it was pretty bad and dirty
![Wheel Tire Automotive tire Tread Rim]()
![Tableware Wheel Automotive tire Light Dishware]()
![Scaled reptile Automotive tire Wood Font Bicycle part]()
Good save! That should buy you time for a replacement. If ya ignored it, you may have destroyed your engine. As for the flush, cap or plug the reservoir inlet and run the return hose into a catch can.Flush and then empty the res. Attach the hoses and refill. don't worry about air getting into the system. It will self purge.
Thank you Rick! So when all was put together, and I started her up, it still squealed... I thought at first maybe it was the new pump, but it wasn't. Everything was bled and filled properly (the "new" reservoir had a short hose on the inlet that I could crimp off). The wife being anxious since we're leaving tomorrow on a road trip had me call up our niece's boyfriend who's a mobile mechanic by trade to come check it out. He came out today and took a listen using a bar to see which component it was. We both determined it might be the tensioner pulley wheel that I had packed. While I packed it well and it was smooth like a new one would be, he did notice that it had some slight play to it and also had a slight rattle when you spun it. Went to Advanced Auto around the corner (RIP Pep Boys...) Got a new wheel and put it on. Started the car and about half the squealing went away, but it was still squeaking some. When putting some soap on the side of the belt it went away. He could hear some resonation from the alternator so our final conclusion was that the notches that the original belt put on the alt pulley was not playing nice with the new belt. Filed down the notches (remember that pulley is flat and smooth like the tensioner pulley) and it quieted it down quite a lot. After some driving around the squealing is all but gone. Maybe the belt needed some load on it... But has anyone experienced a noticably notched alternator pulley? It's strange to me that it's not grooved like everything else is... It's the original alternator.
Finished off the day with a gibbons method trans fluid exchange. 12 quarts (3 gallons) out and 12 quarts in. Except this time around I substituted 14oz of 3309 with some Hot Shots Secret TSE (Trans Striction Eliminator, now called Shift Restore) to help condition the solenoids and such with. Upon emptying the initial gallon or so pumped out, I grabbed a sample of the old used fluid to send off to Blackstone Labs to test and evaluate as I did the same the last time I flushed the trans out like this. Results at that time were better than I had expected.
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I replaced the entire interior with leather
Good work! Have a fun and safe trip! Post some pics.
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Crap! What happened? At least it looks like you have AAA. A simple fix?
AAA ftw!! 🙌
Simple is relative, lol. Basically the pulley to the alternator began sliding off the shaft, so I'm having the alternator replaced. Currently in Fresno, so had to do an unexpected overnight stay there since most shops aren't open on Sundays. Currently being worked on and found a good honest and fair priced so they could take me in, in a pinch thankfully. 🙏🙌
Did new plugs (Bosch from FCP) and newish coils (thanks Rwvc30) on my girl at 401 550k. Did the Fuel Rail Pressure Sensor almost 2 weeks ago but still had a bit of hesitation under acceleration in upper gears, so figured it was time. Put Castrol Edge High Mileage to try for the first time...always used Castrol Edge before and added a bottle of LiquiMoly Ceratec. Runs like a top now and pulls like it always used to. Good spend of a few hours.
If it isn't one thing, it's another... Discovered that I need to replace the rear shocks ASAP... I've been having clunking noises from the rear of the car for several weeks now. I had bought new end links to rule those out, but hasn't installed them yet due to the other issues I had recently and that's when I was planning to do so. I realize that disconnecting them can help determine, but I need to know if it's that or the sway bar bushings causing it and disconnecting it won't conclude which between those. Come yesterday, the rear of the car feels like a boat or 80s Coupe deVille going down the road bouncing over bumps and dips. I can bounce the entire back of the car up and down with one hand pushing on it, and can hear the same clattering and clunking when doing so. Purchasing some Meyle shocks and shock mounts from FCP which should fix up this issue. Current shocks are only 3 years old, but from off eBay... 🤷♂️🤦♂️
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Damn, That blows. Knocking on wood here. I did fronts but never did the rear and at ~170k they ride well still.
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