Good god, my car sounds like a kettle! // Power-steering woes
 

1- My 84 300D has started (intermittently) whistling at higher speeds (40+ mph), with the whistling growing progressively louder with speed. This started a few weeks ago with a faint noise, and has been getting worse over time. At this point, it sounds like there's a boiling kettle somewhere in the engine compartment.

It has no noticeable impact on drivability, and the car isn't displaying any other symptoms of bad behavior. Annoyance aside, I'm wondering if something could be going very wrong. For example, is my turbo is about to take a crap?

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2- The car's steering has started to act up with cold temperatures. The power steering pump has begun to squeal loudly at full lock, and occasionally "jamming" before reaching full lock during stationary maneuvering (i.e. during parallel parking). Once the car's been running for more than a minute or two, everything seems fine. Are these symptoms of a failing PS pump? I fully admit that driving to Boston and back without a power steering belt may have contributed to this issue. Fluid and filter were recently changed.

As always, any advice & assistance is appreciated.

Are your belts adjusted properly?

The PS belt currently has 1/2-1" of play between the pulleys.

The issue is, it doesn't seem to want to get any tighter. Either the shop put on the wrong belt size, or my adjustment mechanism is broken.

The whistle could be a boost or vacuum leak. What if you put the engine at full load in 2nd gear? Going slow (relatively) but if it's a boost leak should be loud.

Some people describe a "whistling" sound for the whine sound of a power steering pump when the fluid and filter needs to be changed.

For the belt: See if you can find some identifying marks and bang that number into FindPart.org: Catalogue of Auto Parts

You might get lucky and see that it is indeed meant to be fitted to your car!

The culprit for the power steering squeal was, in fact, this Gates V belt. Though it's supposedly the right size, and the manufacturer claims it fits the car, it wasn't able to get tight enough to function without squealing. The replacement (Duralast) works perfectly.

Morale: avoid Gates belts?

Interesting.... how does it compare in terms of top width , angle of working surface, etc ?

Tried this out earlier today. The whistle seems to be most prominent around 2-3k rpm, after which it fades away. Below 2k, everything sounds normal.

Poking around the engine bay earlier, I noticed that my air filter housing bracket has cracked. I'm not sure there's a direct correlation between the two, but it seems like an obvious variable to eliminate.

I'll take a closer look and get back to you.

The only immediate difference I noticed was that the Duralast has a similar synthetic fabric outer layer to that found on the OE Contitech belts, whereas the Gates has a simple rubberized finish.

I wouldn't condemn gates belts, it may just be that the belt was past its prime....Sad I know, but belt and hoses don't last for life....

Do you mean ' condemn ' ?

Yes, my brain was stuck on "powerful" words...Condone...oh so deep and powerful :P

I suppose that it could have been new old stock, but the Gates was installed barely over a month ago.

Did not get acceptable service time from a Gates serpentine belt on my E300.