92 Es 300 Funny Noises

[1992es300]

Hello all,

I'm new here, so forgive me if this is an obvious/already answered question. A friend has a 92 ES 300 that had a large coolant loss. It was diagnosed as a cracked radiator, which has been replaced.

However, there is also a funny whining/moaning sound intermittantly at idle...i don't know if it's there when cruising b/c I dont usually drive the car. It is relatively loud, and the mechanic has diagnosed it as a power steering pump that needs to be replaced. However, the steering operates fine, and the noise is there regardless of whether the steering wheel is being turned.

Any ideas...could it be something else like the water pump, which had some possible dried seepage and could have been affected by the low coolant level in the old radiator, or is the steering pump a common problem? Also, is it possible to wait until there are actually steering problems? The car only has 85k miles, and is driven about 3k a year currently, so dont want to put too much money into it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Toysrme]

The pump is spinning regardless of you turning the wheel so he may be right. If you were really lucky, maybe he's wrong & you could get by with a new belt & getting the tension just perfect.

[m sorel]

this answer may be too simplistic and obvious, but my money is on the A/C compressor

mike

[1992es300]

Thanks for the feedback guys..keep it coming! The car is still in the shop to replace a CV boot and to do a major service, including checking the belts, so maybe replacing the belt(s) will do the trick.

As for the A/C compressor, that was my inital thought too, but the noise doesn't seem to be dependent on whether it's cycled on, but I will double check that just to be sure

Also, how common is a steering pump failure/ water pump failure, and at what mileage? I was a little suspicious because with all the problems I've had with cars, I've never had any with steering pump issues. Is this a common ES 300 problem? Thanks again! :)

[Toysrme]

Failures are next to non existance if the factory maint schedule is followed exactly.

In four years of being on some very big T/L forums, I remember... 5 P/S pumps being bad. Three of them were McElligott's cause the shop was a bunch of wacko's!!! One was the entire setup on Josh's ES250, then some Camry went out.

So ya, say 100,000 Toyota owners over 4 years & I recall 5 being bad. That's not a problem.

The waterpumps get changed @ 120,000 miles (every other timing belt). The failure rate with them is low even without the changing. Most of the time, other cooling problems occure before the water pump fins corrode off (The most common water pump specific problem on any car).

There really are not very many common issues. They're so reliable we kind of nit-pick things, and most of them are parts that wear, or are generic car problems. (Non ES related)

[SKperformance]

P/S pumps bearings go so it needs a new one.I know of 3 in toronto alone.

water pumps leak i have had that as well from the bearing.

[branshew]

Are we over analizing here??

It it a high pitched squeal noise like a loose belt, bad PS pump, or loose bearing - or just a lower whine/moan tone?

On the '95 ES300 that I had, I always thought that the car had a low whine/moan engine tone that seems to be normal on most ESs that I have been around. (Comparing this to the sound of other engines) This was the normal engine sound - not any issue. Every engine sounds different due to its design so this could be the normal sound for the ES. You can tell the sound of an air cooled VW engine a mile away.

[Toysrme]

Ya I kinda lean that way too. Replace the belt, just make sure whoever does it really get's the PS pump tight like it should be.

If it's not any better, swap pumps & keep the belt. (If it's not freyed, or damaged)

There are a couple of ways to flush out the PS fluid also. I think there's like... Two quarts in the system, little more than one quart for a non PS powered fan.