04 Escape steering noise

[sbrodacz]

My fiances escape makes a really bad whining noise whenever she turns the wheel to the right or left. Her power steering was a little low. I add some, but the problem continues. I figured maybe it was a tie rod or something had has gone bad. I wanted to post on here to see if there was something common that goes bad to help make finding the problem a little easier.

[zoom_ute]

Could be the upper strut mounts/bearings if it is a squeak..or if they are not operating smoothly it could be putting a lot of load on the pump.
Otherwise maybe the belt slipping when under load. Next step would be to flush/fill the system.

[theoldwizard]

All power steering system make a certain amount of noise when turning the wheel at low speed (like in a parking lot). The noise will get loud when you hit the limit either right or left.

If you are not leaking any fluid, I would not worry too much about it.