Graunching noise right side

[patrick264]

This sound has been coming from a cold startup and for the first mile and a half of driving I can only describe it as graunching noise - after a mile and a half it seems to disappear- putting the clutch in and disengaging the engine and revving the engine and the engine sounded smooth- so no engine problem .
today whilst examining under the bonnet I noticed that the reservoir cap on the power steering was loose
I tightened up this cap and took the car out for a drive and lo and behold no noises
obviously it was a struggling power steering pump as a result of a loose Reservoir cap .
Glad it was such an easyfix
wondering if I should renew the power steering fluid now in case of any air contamination that may have occurred

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by patrick264

This sound has been coming from a cold startup and for the first mile and a half of driving I can only describe it as graunching noise - after a mile and a half it seems to disappear- putting the clutch in and disengaging the engine and revving the engine and the engine sounded smooth- so no engine problem .
today whilst examining under the bonnet I noticed that the reservoir cap on the power steering was loose
I tightened up this cap and took the car out for a drive and lo and behold no noises
obviously it was a struggling power steering pump as a result of a loose Reservoir cap .
Glad it was such an easyfix
wondering if I should renew the power steering fluid now in case of any air contamination that may have occurred

Nice when expensive sounding noises turn out to be cheap easy fixes.

Provided no muck got into the system while the cap was loose the fluid should be good. The power steering is self bleeding so the air will disappear in time.

[patrick264]

Thanks itv reassuring info to know that the power steering is self cleansing .
As you say,nice to have a cheap fix when one was anticipating something a bit more complex .
And always good t o acquire new knowledge.