I just bought a 1997 A4 2.8 5-speed manual Quattro (one owner, 129,000 miles). When I drive very slowly and turn left or right, the front-end makes a loud, high-pitched, whining noise. It sounds as if it's the all-wheel drive or the steering. The power-assist steering fluid was low, so I filled, but no help. Any ideas, solutions? I can't have it looked at at an Audi dealer until Fri. 4/21. Thanks -- Jake

 

sounds like your power steering pump might be going bad...try turning your wheel with the car totally stopped, does it make the same noise but louder?

 

Agree. What kind of P/S fluid did you use? May make it worse.

 

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me.

 

...high pitched whining noise....you think so? Especially since he said the P/S fluid was way low. It's worth checkin' out though with that milage.

 

I had the same problem with my ps it was the fluid amazingly low i topped off and a month later it did the same thing. I had a very small leak in the system so more than likely its the ps

 

if you added regular old power steering fluid, you're probably going to have some pretty major problems...BUT, if you added Pentosin 11S or an equivalent, and it's still making the whining sound, then your power steering pump is probably going out....that whining sound, at first, was your pump running dry..but after a while, it killed your bearing in the pump, which is most likely why the noise didn't go away after you added fluid.

 

i had the same on my 01 1.8t ended up replacing the rack and all problems were solved