Groaning sound from steering - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Gary Gaukler · 04-02-2010, 09:06 AM

Wondering if y'all can help me diagnose this.

2001 S, 105 Kmi. From time to time, when I turn the steering wheel, there is a groaning sound coming from the front of the car. It's most audible when I coast to a stop; when accelerating it's difficult to hear because of engine noise.

It sounds like a power steering pump, but that can't really be it because the pump is rear of the driver, and this sound is definitely coming from the front.

P/s fluid level seems fine. No drips. I jacked up the front but could not find anything obviously amiss. I have not yet taken the plastic underbody off, but there is no evidence of leakage anywhere around the steering rack.

Any ideas? Maybe just air in the p/s lines?

Thanks,
Gary

landrovered · 04-02-2010, 09:30 AM

Must be an 01 S thing because mine does the same thing, on the passenger side when the car is warm. Let me know what you find.

eightsandaces · 04-02-2010, 09:56 AM

Huge longshot but is the belt stretched or old?

PS You think you heard a groan, wait till the groan you hear leave your own body when you get the pentosin to the cash register.

si_reading · 06-30-2010, 12:55 PM

I've a similar noise on my 2000 2.7 now also. Will check PS levels later failing that might be a trip to a local garage to get it looked into

jcb986 · 07-01-2010, 07:01 AM

First check your fluid level...if it's ok I would suspect the pump could be failing and not supplying enough fluid to the rack or the rack could be by-passing fluid. Since the system is basically sealed with fluid moving though all the time I would not consider a blocked line. Post what you find, it helps everyone here.

dallison · 07-01-2010, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcb986

First check your fluid level...if it's ok I would suspect the pump could be failing and not supplying enough fluid to the rack or the rack could be by-passing fluid. Since the system is basically sealed with fluid moving though all the time I would not consider a blocked line. Post what you find, it helps everyone here.

my 1st guess.

I know a lot of older fords have a very loud groaning that comes from their power steering, but that's normal.

vacman · 07-17-2010, 10:48 PM

:dance: I await some enlightenment,

ChrisZang · 07-22-2010, 08:02 PM

same problem here ...

landrovered · 07-23-2010, 05:59 AM

At the risk of angering the Porsche gods... my boxster is no longer making the noise.

I topped off the pentosin (it was not really low) and it made the noise a couple of more times and then it stopped on it own.

I would not relate the cessation of the noise to my merely adding a thimble full of pentosin any more than I would suggest the effectiveness of offering blood sacrifices.

I am still just as stumped on this one as I was before.

ChrisZang · 07-23-2010, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by landrovered

At the risk of angering the Porsche gods... my boxster is no longer making the noise.

I topped off the pentosin (it was not really low) and it made the noise a couple of more times and then it stopped on it own.

I would not relate the cessation of the noise to my merely adding a thimble full of pentosin any more than I would suggest the effectiveness of offering blood sacrifices.

I am still just as stumped on this one as I was before.

Hey, when you said "you topped off", where in the dipstick is the level after topping off?. There are two marks in the dipstick.
"Cold" which is pretty much at the end of the sipstick and "Warm" which is much higher
My car makes the noise only when cold so I am tempted to overfill a little...

landrovered · 07-23-2010, 06:52 AM

Yes when I say "topped it off", I mean I overfilled it.