I recently bought my A4 and I noticed that the power steering fluid was not the thin green color it should be (it was light gold), so I replaced it according to the steps outlined in the Bentley manual (drain from cooler line while turning from stop to stop 10x, refill, start engine and turn 10x, check level). When I started the engine the steering pump made a terrible racket while I bled it, but all the bubbles came out and everything seemed okay. EXCEPT, now the pump makes a chirping noise when turning and moans a little when turned all the way over. Is this noise a damaged pump or maybe some air still in the system? Did I do something wrong? I don't remember it making this noise before.

Also, I read here that a PS fluid change would require 2 liter bottles of Pentosin, so I bought 4 12oz bottles from the local Audi dealer and only used 2 bottles. That would only be about 1 liter for a complete flush. Has anyone else with my engine done a PS change and can verify that is correct? I'm worried that I have a huge air pocket in the system or something.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who contributes to this forum. So far, I've replaced both my belts (and all the related parts), valve cover gaskets, engine coolant sensor, drivers side door handle, done a full service with plugs, and I sent my cluster off to get the information display fixed. I would have never had the ***** to do all this myself without all the info I've found here.

Thanks in advance for any help with my issues above!

 

Well for the moaning noise did you check your belt? Sounds like there is some pesky air still in there. I wouldn't say its the pump right off the bat if you didn't hear anything prior.
Oh and damn that's a lot of work and glad you could get that stuff done and not complain like most people when they take it to the stealership and then get rid of the car.

 

it could be air when i changed my ps pump it made that whining noise after we were done and we thought we messed something up but after turning the wheel back and fourth for a bit and checking the fluid it worked fine no noise

 

What should I be looking at in regards to the belt? The tension seems good and I don't see any slipping while someone turns the wheel. While I was doing the belts I did notice that the serpentine belt tensioner was a bit noisy when I spun it (sounded "gritty"), maybe what's what I'm hearing? I should have changed that thing but I neglected to order it with the rest of my belt replacement kit and I needed to get the rental tools back to Blauparts.

BTW, I just drove it around a bit (strange with no instrument cluster) and it's sounding a little better. Can't hear anything while driving, but when I pulled it into the garage I could still hear it when turning the wheel.

Interceptor, there's no way I could afford to have this car serviced by the dealer. Every part I've checked on with them has been marked up 100% and they would have charged me $1800 for doing the timing belt and water pump alone. Anyway, I enjoyed doing all the work myself and I saved a bunch of money, so it's all good. My only complaint are those damn plastic breather hoses - they were so brittle that I broke every hose I touched and cost me over $100 to replace.

I love this car!

 

Ouch...$1,800 is a rip off. An indy at most should be $1,000 and a stealership a little more than that. I have heard of cheaper as well but....
Other then dry or oil soaked and cracks on the belt the only other noise would be from the pulley/tensioner possibly. Also the average age of the belt as well. When in doubt replace em and be safe. I'm just wondering if there is still air in there. My bimmer I had was a pita for that after the fact and took quite a while working it out.

 

Well the belt is brand new, but like I said I didn't change the tensioner and now I'm totally regretting it. I'll keep an ear on it and consider changing the tensioner if things don't improve. Thanks for the input guys.

The worst part of this whole thing is that I did all the work I mentioned above at one time (actually over a week after waiting for the plastic breather hoses to come in the mail) and when I started the car and heard that awful noise I thought I screwed up something on the timing belt and would have to tear it all back apart (or rebuild the engine). I had no idea the PS pump would make that noise, and it took me a while to come down off the ceiling and realize it needed to be bled.

 

Oh, and Interceptor, did you just let your Bimmer work out the air on its own, or what?

 

Yep after cursing and getting a buddy to confirm with me and driving it around and turning and more turning. Took a long time for some reason. Zeeee german cars can be quirky .