Help ? 1996 Hiace .

jock22, Jul 12, 1:24pm
I'm guessing power steering problem but unsure so any help appreciated .

Camper van above only used a couple of times a month . on start up from cold I get what sounds like a hydraulic noise whenever I turn the wheel . this gradually decreases and after about 10 minutes it
disappears altogether. fluid levels are ok ? Anyone have any idea what this could be ?

intrade, Jul 12, 1:29pm
are you sure you check the fluid level correctly ? and what is the colour of the fluid?

jock22, Jul 12, 1:32pm
will check tomorrow . thanks for the reply

stevo2, Jul 12, 1:37pm
Is the drive belt tensioned correctly or is it in good condition?

intrade, Jul 12, 1:38pm
your discription is consistent with not enough fluid matching.
The naigbours girl told me her car sounded like the titanic till its warmed up . While i could not asosiata the titanic with a problem i could point the noise to a power steering noise. and the ATF expands when hot raising the fluid level thus there is enough fluid present when hot.
. its why i posted what i did in post 2
atf is suposed to be redwine red . no burned smell

intrade, Jul 12, 1:44pm
that would be a bearing noise or belt squeel . pritty dificult to tell what somone thinks he hears as a description.

tweake, Jul 12, 2:57pm
i have had this. turns out to be a loose crank pulley.
they are known to come loose or the balancer/dampner part fail.

highly recommend to get that checked before it damages the crank.

the reason for the noise disappearing after a while is the power steering fluid heats up and thins out, so the pump puts less load on the pulley.

kazbanz, Jul 13, 2:57am
My first thought is that the power steer belt is a tiny bit loose.

jock22, Nov 24, 9:11am
thanks everyone .

Simple fix - turns out it was simply the reservoir cap - which had been replaced at some point - had the wrong length level indicator on it - about 30mm too long which was giving me a false reading .Replaced with right cap and it was indeed very low on fluid. Topped up and all good.

Thanks again.