Loud howling when steering wheel is turned

Sounds to me like a worn out power steering pump, or a blockage of some kind in one of the hoses. But, I would suggest simply changing the fluid first, and see if there is any difference. As an aside, have you ever worked on a power steering system before? Please be aware that working on a power steering system is not just delicate work, but the environment you work in must be totally dust free. Any contamination of any kind will result in premature wear on the system itself. If you need a replacement pump, then look for a junkyard special, as a new one will set you back well over $1200! A new rack will be north of $3200! The reason I know this is because it was done to my Prius already. It is an extremely expensive affair. I had to replace it on my 2002 Neon after an idiot went through a red light and hit my poor wife. It cost us $1800, but Prius uses an electric powered rack, so much more (and understandably)expensive. Keep in touch, as I am curious to see the results of the fluid change.

Also, I just remembered, how are the temperatures where you live? I know that Toyota in Canada uses a different Power Steering formulation than in the United States, due to some severely cold weather we get here. My Prius was purchased in the United States, and my first winter resulted in Tremendous power steering noise and whine. Anything under 10 Farenheit would trigger this wine. I went to my local dealer, and $80 they replaced my fluid with "Canadian" power steering fluid, and the system has been working very well. Just a heads up.

 

There isn't any power steering pump in our prius. Instead of a regular power steering pump, we have an electric motor to assist steering instead. Therefore we don't need to change power steering fluid.

For OP case, I'm more suspect you have a bad CV joint. This is because you said can't hear hear anything when your prius is not moving but you can hear the noise when your prius in motion. The easiest way to check is check your CV joint condition is checking the CV shaft boot is it broken or not is as follow:

1. Park your car on a safe spot turn your steering all the way to the left.
2. Go to your left front wheel and take a look at the CV boot condition located on the drive shaft.
3. After checking the left wheel, do the same thing for the front wheel by turning the steering wheel to the right.

 

Whoa, are you saying a dealer actually told you they changed the power steering fluid in your Prius? :huh: Did you know it was electric at the time?

The price on the rack looks to be $2023 at Toyota Parts People (one of the Toyota dealer sites available here) ... but the rack doesn't sound like the problem here, and as long as you're careful not to add any power steering fluid, it should be fine for a long time.

-Chap

 

Hi Joe,
I am having this exact problem with my 2002 with 180k on it. What was your outcome?

james

 

My steering wheel can make a high pitched noise on some turns sometimes, usually when the AC has been blowing on it on high.

I think it's just an issue of the grease in the assembly.

 

Any updates?

 

In my case, my wheel bearing was bad on the OPPOSITE side of the noise / vibration in steering wheel. So when I turned my wheel right, it started making a loud noise and vibrated the steering wheel a bit. It turned out that my front driversside wheel bearing went out

 

Try greasing up the assembly then listen for any noise.

 

Can you be more specific about what to grease. I have this problem and it has escalated into howling all the time except when I turn right, It got much worse after I had tires put on and they discovered during the front end alignment that my tie rods are frozen and will not adjust.

 

We recently went through this exact symptom with a customers car, using an instrument called "Chassis Ears", we isolated a front wheel bearing, opposite side from the direction of turn that makes the noise. Weird, but that's what it was.

Eric
Adopt A Part

 

Thank you Eric. I'll report back as to what we find.

 

I have a 2002 prius ,

The car has 233,000 miles on it

I have had to replace three wheel bearings:

one at 160,000
one at 188,000 and one at 220,000

In all three cases I always thought the howl was some where else.

Only the left rear is original.

Tom

 

Well turns out it was the right front wheel bearing. Found an indy shop right here in Salem to replace it. They also freed up my left tie rod adjuster that was frozen, and put on a new set of front struts. The right one was blown, so I had them do the pair. After all they were the originals with 183K on them. Front Brake pads both sides and polished my foggy headlight lenses. Total cost all in $807.50
I was told about the tie rod when I purchased new tires at the local Firestone shop and they tried to do an alignment on the car. They quoted me close to $500 to replace the left tie rod. Louie the indy I went to said that was because they were a replacement shop and he was a repair shop. We like Louie!!

 

I too, thought it was the steering column but now I'm not so sure.

I'm thinking it might be the brake rotors or callipers.

This howling seems to be related to ambient weather conditions.

On a cool morning or after rain, the Prius howls almost like a truck or a bus with worn break pads.

All speculation on my part.

I uploaded a video to YouTube to get some discussion on this issue in Australia as Toyota Australia and the service centre at my local dealership, Bill Buckle Toyota appear to be in denial.

I have been aware of the issue for months but was fobbed-off by Toyota and the Dealership.

When I described the howling to Bill Buckle, the did not believe me and suggested I get proof.

They told me to record the howling sound, so here it is:

Edit: I should have hit record prior to leaving the garage this morning as it was both cold and moist (after rain) and the Prius howled loudly.