Power Steering help

I will try to keep this short and sweet

Symptoms - Truck has been whining for a while. Bought all three belts months ago, but was too lazy to replace them right away. All the sudden my steering got stiffer (doubt if it makes a difference, but had just gone shooting and needed it in 4wd to get in and out of our spot. Got stiff when leaving)
Changed all of the belts and the whining went away, but the steering is still very stiff.

Action -
After doing some research, I got a turkey baster and sucked out as much of the old power steering fluid as I could. Added some Preston Power Steering Fluid (later ended up buying the Dextron III). No change.
Removed the reservoir, drained it completely, cleaned it with brake cleaner. Got as much of the nasty crap as I could out of the mesh drain. Used the entire can of brake cleaner. Made sure the mesh was nice and clean right over the hole (put a flashlight underneath and looked up through it and it's perty)
Put the Dextron III in there. Had my wife turn the truck on, and off as I added more fluid until it stayed level. Moved the steering wheel from left to right stops a few times, level didn't change. Decided to go on a drive.
1.) Still stiff
2.) After the drive, I looked under the hood again and some of the power steering fluid and backflowed up through the cap to the reservoir.
3.) The power steering pump is much more whiny than it was before I cleaned out the reservoir.
I did make sure the O-ring on the bottom of the reservoir was still in good condition. Made sure my belt over the power steering was tight enough (when I push the belt, I get a good 3/4" or so give in the belt).


Am I SOL? Only option to get a new power steering pump? Another other wisdom is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

 

I’d replace the pump. They’re pretty cheap from your local auto parts store.

 

The tightness you're feeling is air in the system. Lift the truck high enough (safely) to relax the front wheels as they must be off of the ground, start the truck and slowly turn the wheel full lock LT & RT with the reservoir cap off. Doing this will allow air in the system to escape. Keep a bottle of PS fluid with you as you may need to add. Looking into the reservoir... once those tiny little bubbles are gone, fill if needed and you're done.

Good luck.

 

Thanks, I will try that today before I go buy a new pump. I tried turning the wheel slowly while the truck was on the ground, but I guess it will be easier to turn the wheel in the air and easier for the air bubbles to find a path up and out

 

Wheels on the ground forces the pump to labor too hard. It took me about 45 minutes to completely rid my system of air. Be patient.

Good luck.

 

Awesome!! Thank you so much! I ask wasn’t sure how much time it would take. I knew this was the right place to ask. I’ll let you know how everything is going in about an hour.
I have the truck lifted up and started very slowly and could see from the drivers seat when I had to slow down because I could see the bubbles rising.
Later, if I still hear whining from the pump, is there a chance that I tightened the serpentine belt too tight/too loose yesterday?

 

TL;DR - make sure the belt around the power steering pump only has about a 1/2” of give.

Figured it out. Luckily I drove to autozone without my wallet, or else I was going to be buying a new pump.
The Ps pump worked great in the air after getting all the air bubbles out. Put the truck down on the ice and then I needed to turn it left and right once or twice, then the whining went away. As soon as I’d start driving it whined so bad. Went through this process a couple of times.
Went to autozone to see if a longer drive would help. Nope. Talked to them and someone in the store had worked on a 1st gen Tacoma with the same issue and asked if I had recently changed my belts. (Yes, a week before the pump started whining).
I told him I had read somewhere to leave about 3/4” give in the belt if I push in the center of the longest point between two pulleys. He told me that was way too much. He said tighten it until I have 1/2” give.
Went home, tightened it up, alllllll whining went away and corners like the beautiful truck he is.
Apparently when I went shooting, jostling over the uneven surface loosened it just enough to make the problem apparent to me.

Pro’s to finding out the hard way? -
Figured out how to clean out my reservoir, as well as how to take it off the PS pump and clean the mesh.
Truck has brand spanking new power steering fluid in it.

Thanks for your help on how to bleed the system @Ritchie ! Definitely needed that!

 

After driving for a few miles it got hard to turn again and felt like maybe the pump was failing. Drove it for two days to see if it fixed itself. No luck.
Took the cap off, forced it left all the way and waited for the whine to start (wasn’t whining until I held it full left for 10-15 seconds, the whines and whines then it stopped.) went right again, until the pump quieted down and was smooth. I guess we’ll see if it’s smooth all the way home

Mid-finale - Made it all the way home with great power steering action. Put the truck in reverse to go down the driveway, whining started again. Popped the cap, turned it and it whined for a second in both directions. Smooth again. (did this two time, maybe there were extra air bubbles in the line) gonna keep doing this for the next week, if it keeps happening I'm getting a new pump

 

After doing some donuts on ''ice'', I caught traction on pavement and I am having very similar issues to you. Very loud whining that sometimes gets quite and a small leak from the steering rack. Thanks for the information =)

 

Interesting! That also could have been where my issue came from. I never had a leak, but I did do some donuts in the mud after I went shooting recently. But the whining and such didn't happen until later. What I'm guessing happened with me is that I waited too long to change my belts out (my truck has been pretty squeaky for months, bought the belts, but never changed them out).
I'm to the point where once everything warms up I can drive without any whining, but my I'm gonna bite the bullet and buy the new power steering pump tonight.

If you do this, make sure you check when your truck was manufactured. Mine was 10/96 and apparently they switch pumps in trucks made after 01/97

 

If you do get around to changing your belts out, I found this today in the repair manual.

 

This is interesting as well. I didn't know they counted as "Used Belts" after 5 mins.

 

Sweet thanks. Although I do not have one of those tools, so I may just use the traditional slack method.

 

If it helps at all, I just bought this one. Watched a video of how it works and it was correct within the $1000 tester as well.