Hello All,
I'm new to the forum and I've seen where some have posted about their problems with power steering. I recently purchased a 2004 HSE7 with 76,000. Everything has been running very smooth until recently. When i turn the steering wheel it tends to whine. Not a grind, not a hum....a whine. I immediately took it to the dealer who told me i had a power steering leak and that it would be around $2,000 to repair. I scoffed at the idea as they were only going to replace the pump and hoses. I found these online for much cheaper and have a close friends that works on Rovers. I've been forced to fill the reservoir up before i leave everyday. Needless to say it's becoming quite annoying. I just want to make sure this is definitely my Power Steering as I don't want to spend money on something that isn't broken. It tends to whine a great deal more on colder mornings. Why is this, and is anyone else familiar with this "whine"?

 

Start by changing your power steering fluid.
If it continues then you need a new power steering pump, which you can do yourself.

 

I agree with Spike, you need to change the fluid out. Check the color of it, should look like honey. I would use a bottle of Lucas Synthetic PS treatment as well.

 

Thanks so much, just replaced. It! It continues to leak only when the vehicle is stationary so I assume it's the pump. Should I replace the hoses as a precaution?

 

Sorry, If that was misleading. I replaced the fluid. I've yet to order the pump, but will do so today.

 

I bought myself some time with the Lucas......stopped the whining right away...and might stop your leak if not to bad

 

Resurrecting this old thread. This is the last lingering issue I have with my first rover I bought 5 months ago. Been putting it off because I know it will a challenging job. I've tried a PS fluid change (tedious as heck), added some Lucas additive. But the whine persists.

Per Spike's recommendation in an alternator thread, I took the serpentine off and the whine was gone. The whine is loud enough that I can't tell for certain that it's the PS pump. Any way to make sure that's the problem for sure? The alternator pulley turned easy enough.

Found a very helpful video on YouTube
However, it's not clear to me what's going on at the 7:20 mark. I don't have a press, so want to make sure I don't strand myself mid repair if there's something I need to do. RAVE manual isn't providing any info on this.

 

I used that video as a basic guide in changing out my p/s pump last month. the video was pretty helpful. it's a pretty straightforward thing. I'm about as shade-tree as weekend mechanics come, and I managed to get it done in about a couple of hours. no need to remove the fan, bolts can come out through the openings b/t the blades. make sure to bleed it good after changing the pump. got my pump from L8, a britpart- so far, so good (knocks on wood).

 

I could be wrong but I believe he completely rebuilt the pump and they started back recording at the end of the rebuild. I replaced mine 2 weeks ago using that video as a guide and since I ordered a different pump I just disregarded that step.

 

Thanks for the explanation Madlands. Outside of that one portion of the video, between a RAVE manual, the rest of the video, and some common sense, it looks pretty doable.

Say a prayer for me, I'm going to buy a new pump tomorrow!