power steering empty? wtf....

[JosiahP]

hey guys
so my dad was driving our family van today and noticed a really bad whining noise coming from the engine so i checked it out and it was the power steering pump. so i was like wtf? looked at the pwr steering reservoir and it was empty like wtf! lol
anyways i couldnt find anywhere were it could have been leaking from, and we havnt noticed any pwr steering fluid in the driveway.
can anyone offer any insight into this?
van is a vw routan if thats any healp

[GTRADDICT]

Does it wine with RPM?

[JosiahP]

ya it would really badly and when we turn the steering wheel it was really bad and there were vibrations coming up into the steering wheel
we filled the reservoir and now its better but im still trying to find out why it happened?

[JosiahP]

anyone?

[Daniel1458]

I would speculate that it's burning if it was going through engine (example coolant/oil). But it's isolated system. I don't know. Top it up, and just keep and eye.

[raijin-xiii]

same thing is going on with my beater truck. There are two hoses (to and from the pump itself) and one of the hoses has a big hole in it. Make sure you find big bottles of PS fluid as they are wayyyy cheaper price:mL. Keep pouring it in when it starts to whine, and get it fixed asap! I'm not fixing it because my subie is almost road ready but it's a pain in the asssss.

[JosiahP]

ok thanks for the tips guys
im going to jack up the car tomorrow and take a better look at it

[NismoS-tune]

this happened to my buddy's wife's van last week, 2008 Dodge caravan or something. They blew the PS pressure line. On backorder now as it's a highly sought after part. Maybe it's the same kind of hose lmao

Anyways, told him he shoulda bought a Murano or 4Runner. I just smoked an Acura TL-S on the way home (I'm sure they have few HP though..)

[JNS Performance]

Likely the line running to your steering rack is leaking. Depending on the setup and the tools you have it can range in difficulty. Is it still under warranty? If so I wouldn't mess around with it, just take it in.

[JosiahP]

ya its a lease so its cover. my dad told me not to **** around with it and make it worse lol so we are taking it in to get checked in the coming week hopfully