Popping noise after offroad and low power steering fluid

[DallasCrzr]

Spent last saturday at the offroad park in extremely muddy conditions with my AHC in high mode for the better part of three hours.

Of course I didn't wash my car immediately after and the mud dried like concrete. Not sure if that could be part of the problem so thought I'd mention it.

Wake up on like wednesday its pretty cold out and my car makes this really loud groaning noise which I hear as coming from the PS pump since it's a lot louder when I turn. I also notice that the car is popping for lack of a better term with slight kick in the steering wheel when I turn it more than 70% from center and start moving. So I set the AHC to high just to test it and it pops even when the wheel is only slightly turned. I'm thinkng CV axle at this point.

Then I top off my PS fluid which was low. The groaning goes away, the popping is less often and less noticeable. After about 10 minute of driving no more popping.

I'm on the don't worry about it plan for now but is that a bad plan to be on? Searched and couldn't find anythign about popping related to the PS system

EDIT: the CV boots were changed 25k ago at the dealer and looked fine on a cursory glance

 

[jgray]

Hard diagnosis at this point from what you are describing... I would start washing off all the mud possible underneath... stick a garden sprinkler under the truck and let it run for awhile and it will soak everything pretty good and mud will start falling off on its own... Once clean you should be able to tell if you have a fluid leak somewhere related to you PS pump, etc...

 

[Griffin]

yea, hose her down really well. The popping and scrape sounds could be rocks between the caliper/dust shield and wheel. This happened to me the first few times i went mudding. I drove in reverse circles until a few rocks finally broke/popped out.

 

[DallasCrzr]

That's a very likely possibility. I'll flush the PS fluid after work then stick the sprinkler under there. Thanks yall I'll report back if I find anything interesting

 

[Mxndrnks]

Also inspect your rack bushings. If they are shot you could have excessive movement that is causing the noise you are hearing.

 

[AimCOtaco]

How low was your fluid? Mine generally blows it off until the PSF tank is about 1/2 full (at the seam). First thing I would want to know is if the fluid is leaking OR if you got the system hot from having so much fun causing it to burp. Had you recently filled the PSF?

Took me awhile to figure out why our LC would stink after being driven hard, turns out the dealer topped of the PSF before we got it and after finding it's "natural" level all seems well.