Is synthetic oil worth the price? Also, is there p/s fluid that will stop the whining?

Question

I was wondering about the benifits of synthetic oil. The steering pump on my t-bird is louder than the engine. i changed the fluid and that helped a little, is there a special kind of p/s fluid i can get to stop it from whining?

its not the belt, or a squeal. it goes with engine speed and when i turn the wheel. most fords make the same noise. i think its wearing out, but im hoping its not

Answer 1

1) Unless your car manufacturer recommended Synthetic oil, you are wasting money using it.
2)there are some Power Steering additives that may help, however, I believe they will only delay the inevitable replacing of the pump.

With that said, use whatever oil you feel best, and meets or exceeds the service grade for your engine. I use Synthetic in my BMW but that's what came in it.

Even though I can't give the power steering additives a great review, I would probably buy a pint and put it in, if it worked great, if not , I'm not out much either.

Answer 2

Fords have been plagued with noisy power steering pumps for a very long time. I would flush and fill it with Mobil 1 synthetic.
- Empty as much fluid from the reservoir as possible
- Pull the fuel pump relay
- Remove the return line from the power steering reservoir (mine didn't want to come off so I cut it off since I had plenty of slack in the hose), make sure you have shop towels under the line
- Place a small length of hose over the opening in the reservoir and clamp shut
- Place the return line in a clear length of hose run to a bucket, 5/8" inside diameter will fit tightly without the need for a clamp
- Raise the front wheels on jackstands
- While you get ready to pour new ATF into the reservoir, have your helper crank the engine while turning the wheels from stop to stop. Do not hold the wheel against the stops for more than 3 seconds. Also since the starter motor is being used do not crank more than 15 seconds at a time and give it a 1 minute rest in between.
- Watch the fluid coming out, once it is clear of old fluid stop cranking and reassemble
- Refill fluid to proper level
- Make sure you purge the air out of the system, I made the mistake of going for a test drive before purging and it sounded like the engine was coming apart.
- To purge lower the wheels on the ground, start the engine and turn the wheels back and forth quickly but do not hit the stops.
- Stop the engine and refill the reservoir to proper level, repeat until the fluid does not drop anymore.

Answer 3

Amsoil was/is the original synthetic developed by Joe Amazuto an Air Force officer & pilot.This was around
1970.Now they have about everything synthetic from gear oil to grease to filters.Too much to list. I started
using the blend in '86 in a '77 Catalina 6 banger.Since then I run straight synthetic oil,transmission fluid-
runs A LOT cooler,and gear oil in the diff.When I replace the factory bearings in my '07 Frontier (soon),I'm
switching to their grease. Read what the car manufacturers say about synthetics.Recommended oil change- 25,000 or one year,filter every 6 mo. I do around 20,000,filter 6. I do the filter every 6 regardless.
I only put about 13K a year on it. Oil looks almost new when I change it.

Answer 4

I've had that sound on a few of the Fords I've owned. My only cure was to trade them off.
It could be low of fluid, but if its' a newer car, it's in the pump and the cure is to replace the pump$$$.
Are you using Ford power steering fluid? You need to exclusively.
You could also try a post on the Ford Yahoo Questions. Ford Techs answer problems there.

Answer 5

This is actually a known things with fords....., change the fluid a few times (since just once won't get it all out) and see how it affects it, I doubt the noise will go away with syn..... great stuff but not a miracle worker

Answer 6

Synthetic oil is worth the price, I'm not sure about your other problem though.

Answer 7

some of that could be caused by the belt slipping around the pulley. i'd make sure its tight enough

Answer 8

howoftentochangesyntheticoil/
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