Kish2696

Hi Guys


Having some issues with my A4 B7 - when steering the car seems to make a loud straining noise - it has now come to the point that even whilst sat still it will begin to make this noise - as im driving at low revs you can hear the noise - as I start to accelerate a little harder the noise slowly fades away as you can probably tell im no mechanic however would love to know what the issue is before I do take it in to my local garage. i'll try and upload a video which could hopefully help in identifying the issue -


Thanks in advance -

Kish2696

Link to the video

John535is

The 'straining noise' can be a lot of things.
I assume you hear the noise just by turning the steering wheel lock to lock while stationary. I also assume the steering is working, no weird jolts, relatively smooth action, no puddles of fluid on the tray under the engine and you can still turn lock to lock.
So how it works is there is a steering pump, driven by a belt that pumps fluid into the steering rack and back to the reservoir.
Firstly, check if there is enough steering fluid in the reservoir. When you unscrew the green cap on the reservoir there is a little dip stick attached to the cap. If its low, then add fluid. Audi uses G004002M2 Hydraulic fluid in their steering.
It its level is OK, but looks really dark (almost black) then its time to flush that 10 year old fluid out and start with new fluid at the correct level.
After that I would be looking at the belt and the pulley on the steering pump, but start with the fluid level and perhaps flush first, its the cheapest to start with.

Kish2696

Hey yeah intially the noise was only whilst i was station and moving the wheel however now the noise occurs when i am idle as well and moving - only when i accelerate does the noise go - the fluids were checked 2 days ago and everything was normal - in fact the beginging of the year when i had my gear box done all fluids were flushed and new proper fluids where put in - i was advised by AA that it is a pulley last night

Kish2696

Hi guys - so eventually i managed to solve the issue - turned out to be the alternator pulley - simple enough job to do myself.. if anyone else has this issue i recommend trying the pulley first!