All of a sudden when I turned the wheel, it made a whining/squealing sound. It gets worse as I accelerate, but as I turn the wheel straight, it semi goes away. This leaves me to believe it has something to do with the power steering. Which type of power steering fluid do i buy? And how do I put it in my car?

 

Pentosin CHF202 - Hydraulic System Fluid | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Same thing happening to me. Have to get some steering fluid tomorrow, but probably have to get it flushed out.

 

how much does getting it flushed cost?

 

Not sure how much that costs. Got steering fluid this morning at Oreilly $22.99. Filled it up a little...didn't take much. Parts guy told me there's probably a leak somewhere. Hope he's wrong, I do not see any spots in the garage that indicates any leaking. Probably have to remove the underbody liner to make sure.

 

I had similar issues on my 02 A4 3.0 a few years back. It turned out to be a loose hose clamp where one of the hoses (low pressure side, I believe) was connected to the power steering pump. Simply replacing the hose clamp solved my problem.

While I was loosing a little fluid, it wasn't dripping on the ground. Instead, the fluid dripped on the hose and surrounding area. The fluid covered area collected dirt, which made it easy to pinpoint the problem area.

To see the pump area, I just had to remove the cover piece with "V6 - 3.0" stamped on it. I don't know if a similar cover piece is on the 1.8.