Thread: Tired of this, doesnt make sense anymore.

Originally Posted by CopperGTP

the pouring sand sound that you can feel in the steering column is air bubbles in your power steering fluid. I literally JUST dealt with this in my Monte SS, except mine got so bad the pump stopped working. I changed the fluid and it's good now (except I still have a leak somewhere). What fluid did you use when the rack was replaced? And let me guess, the sound is there when you're hands are off the wheel, but as soon as you start initiating a turn, the sound goes away until the wheel is straight with no steering input again, right?

I actually have not noticed yet if there is a difference when it comes to steering position :| since it usually happens when accelerating harder (or as hard as the car wants to) and I don't normally do that while I'm turning. I'll see if maybe later when I'm off work I can test that out. See, I feel like it has to do with steering components since it started after I initially got my rack replaced last year (can't say it was a super experienced mechanic or the worst either) - and recently when I got the inners replaced and my mechanic let that fluid out of the dust boots, it suddenly was perfect for about a week until it came back. So clearly the "new" rack must be leaking into the boots because I do get a bit of p/s noise too and have had to top the reservoir off a couple of times since the rack was installed.

I can't say I remember specifically what kind of P/S fluid we used other than it was the only one we found at the time at Walmart when the mechanic called asking for some (likely their brand, I forgot what it's called). I have also never had the p/s fluid flushed since I got the car (Oct 2017). I do remember now I believe the first winter having the car overnight during a snowstorm he did bust a p/s hose and we had to have him towed to a shop because there was no power steering at all. So I'm going to say there is a possibility of air being in the system...

Also I think my dad's car's coils which I have on mine right now must be getting schizo on me as occasionally it'll be misfiring - and those coil packs might be original having ~200k mi on them now. Considering ordering a set of ZZP's coils..