Sup all, the last few times I've driven the L I notice when I start it up that there's a mild hydraulic whine present. My dad listened to it with the hood opened and said it might be the power steering pump doing it. It doesn't get louder/change tone when I turn the steering wheel. The truck only has 8000 miles on it and all the fluids are full, anyone know what this mild hydraulic whine could be? It's too late tonight to call the dealer and make an oppointment to check it out so I was wondering if anyone here could chime in until I can get it checked out.

 

I read that a whine from the steering pump could be caused by air in the system and to purge the air you have turn the steering completely back and forth a few times. Does this make sense? I'm going out tonight so I'll try that.

 

Well it's damm cold here in the UK and when I start up my big trucks the power steering pumps make a noise untill they warm up a little.

So maybe a little whine on the 'L' on a cold night in NJ too

Rock your steering back and forth and see if the noise changes.
If not look else where mate

 

I rocked the steering back n forth about 7 times (full left to full right), went for a drive, and the noise is gone. I'll have to see what it does tomorrow. It's probably nothing to worry about (I hope, lol) and a normal noise it makes from time to time (but I just heard it for the first time a few days ago hmm...)

 

Think I might know what the sound is (it's getting louder). It's clearly comming from dead center in the motor bay. Doing some research last night I found out that the supercharger idler pulleys can sometimes have dry bearings that can make the noise I'm hearing. The right side idler pulley closest to the tensioner the paint is wearing off but not the left? Could that be a sign that the pully bearing is dragging?

I read that you take off the belt, then take off the idler pulleys, and then you can clean and re-lube the bearings and the noise will go away. Since my trucks build date is the 6th month of 03, that means I must still be under the factory warranty to atleast june this year (it's 3 years, 30,000 miles, right?) So if it's still under factory warranty, I'm just going to setup a date I can bring it in - is it better to take a SVT vehicle to a former SVT dealer (would a SVT tech have to be present for this type of work on it?)

Does the idler pulley closest to the tensioner (passenger side) paint normally start to wear off where the flat side of the belt touches it before the driver side pulley? (which doesn't have any paint wear what so ever)