When running at slow speeds like going through a parking lot my t/a will having a wuring whine to it. My two uncles believed that it was the torque converter. That's never good. But my dad thought that it could be the power steering. We checked the power steering fluid it was practically dry. We put some fluid in it, run perfectly. Later we remembered that we meant to put more fluid in it sense we put only a little in it. Well, we overfilled it, and now the wuring whine is back. Is it because it's too full, or is it something else?

 

Hmmm.. you said that the whine has come and gone. I know on my car if my gas guage reads 1/4 tank of gas and below and sometimes when braking hard I hear a whine coming from my fuel pump but as soon as I fill up the tank above a half tank or the fuel in the tank levels back out to over a 1/4 tank the whine is gone.

just an idea for you to check. I was worried about my whine at first but I have great fuel pressure and i am not going to drop the tank to get a rid of a whine just keep the tank full most of the time.

Matt

 

I filled the tank yesterday and now that you mention it the whining isn't as bad. Thanks.

 

the noise he is most likely refering to is that of an electric fuel pump like on a tbi or tpi application when the tank is low, this wouldnt apply to you since yours is a mechanical fuel pump which is located in your engine compartment.

 

Good point I did not notice the engine he had but it could be possible if someone put an electric fuel pump on to replace the mechanical one. my grandfather did this to a truck about 15 years ago because he was to cheap to spend the extra 10$ for the right one and even put a switch in the line to cut it on or off. Just a thought though. Mine does whine when it is low and I just grew to use it as a reminder.

Matt

 

But what is the cause of the whine w/ a mechanical fuel pump?

 

I don't think you would have a whine with a mechanical fuel pump

 

My uncles thought it could be the torque converter or the clutch fan, both kinda make sense, but my dad thought after a drive that it could be the power steering. we checked the reservoir and it was empty. once we added SOME of the fluid the whining went away.When we went to add fluid to get it to the proper level we overfilled and now the sound is back.

 

sounds like you are just having all kinds of fun. I don't think overfilling the power steering fluid would hurt anything just would spill out everywhere. but I have been wrong before and don't claim to know everything and will probably be wrong again at some point but nobody is perfect.

matt

 

Matt,

The "whining fuel pump" syndrome when the tank gets low is EXACTLY what my '89 IROC has. I was worrying about it, but like you say, the pressure's good, no starting problems, can't really justify taking it apart. This COULD be a sign of a restricted filter in the tank, but the filter's almost new and the pressure's good.

I wonder how typical this "problem" is? And how much good money gets wasted on trying to "solve" it?

THANK YOU for confirming my "leave it alone" diagnosis. I'll sleep better tonight. One less thing to worry about!

As for the power steering pump, sounds like the seals are going. It may be worth putting in some ps "treatment" (seal softener) to get a few more miles out of it. If it was "practically dry" it's leaking SOMEWHERE, most likely the seals. If it ran low on fluid for long, the pump itself might be toast.