I have a 2003 Discovery II with about 70k miles. Just recently I started hearing a whining noise coming from my engine. Itis loudest when I am accelerating at low speeds, and especially when I am turning. It even occurrs when I am standing still and turn my wheel. I searched this site and found a post regarding whining noises and it being a bad idle pulley. I thought that could be my problem also, until I noticed the sound being louder during turns.

I would appreciate any insight.

 

Sounds like you may need to replace your steering fluid with some good valvoline synthetic and add a bottle of lucas power steering additive. This might help for a while anyways if the pump isn't too far gone.If you really want to pinpoint the sound get a mechanics stethoscope and listen to different parts of the engine to find where the sound is loudest. They are cheap and work well.

 

Have you ever had both the idler pulleys and the belt tensioner replaced? This could be your problem, pretty common and may be louder when turning because of the extra power draw on the belt from the steering pump.
Yo really need to open the hood and start tracking down the noise.

 

I checked under the hood again. Looks like the sound may be coming from the idler pulley on the right side. (if you are looking from the front). Does it make sense that the sound lessens or goes away when driving over 30mph?

 

Yes. Higher rpm anyways. Not necessarily speed related.

 

Thanks so much for your input. Is this something I should get fixed immediately?

 

Definitely.

 

Order both idler pulleys a new tensioner and belt, do them all at the same time, and yes do it today, if it fails, and they do, you can have body damage thru the hood and or radiator.

 

I got you thanks. It just started to occurr. I have an appt with the dealer on Wednesday. Hopefully it lasts until then. Or should I stop driving.

thanks so much for the help.

 

Jkid,
Looks like your original insight was correct. I just notices that I am losing power steering fluid. The leak is not that bad, but it seems to be getting a bit worse. I bought a bottle of Lucas Power steering Stop Leak. Is that what you were referring to when you suggested Lucas Power Steering additive? (that is all I found in the store). I am thinking of adding it until my my appointement with the dealer on Wednesday. Would adding this stuff hide any real problem from the dealer? I have an extended warranty so I would want to find out any major problems while I am still covered.

Thanks