Hi,

Started my car EL monty up today and noticed a funny sound from under the hood. It sounded alot like a power steering pump. So I killed the engine, and poped the bonnent, and was surprised to find the area around the P/S cap was flooded with fluid. I checked the fluid level, and it still appeared to be full, so I started it up and ran it for a moment, and the whine went away. So I drove off, and came back later, and check it, the plastic bit around the P/S cap was flooded again.

It sounds to me like a pipe could be blocked or something, what do you think ?

if it is a blockage, how the frig do I unblock it ?

Finally, I'm supposed to take my dad to Sanddown tomorrow to watch the V8's for fathers day, do you think it'll hold out until Monday if I were to take it to a P/S secialist ?

it was probably over-filled to start with. Or something with be stuffed with the cap.

Is your steering heavy or does it whine when you turn the wheel all the time?

Well, its hard to judge if it's "heavy", some friends with EL's say mine is quite heavy, but it's been like that for the last 200,000 (and I prefer it a little heavier anyhow).

It doesn normally whine, and the odd sound only occurs for a brief period while the engine warms up. The sound does get worse when I turn the steering (eg. pulling out of parking spot). As mentionined, it sounds like the pump is struggling, or under excess load.

And of course, after running the engine for a few mins, it sounds fine again.

I'd doubt it was overfilled, as it hasnt been touched recently (service was 4k ago).

Whilst sitting in the parking spot, I tried turning (with the engine off) lock-to-lock to see if the fluid level changed at all, and possibly bleed any air out, but the level didnt change.

Well... it made it to Sandown and back, no funny noises today, but checked when I got home, and theres still P/S fluid all around the filler-cap.

It obviously isnt leaking too much, as it seems pretty full.

Unless anyone has any ideas, I'll drop it off at the mechanic tomorrow and get him to check it out.

Check the level with the car running and don't overfill it otherwise it will spit it out and will be noisey at the same time.