When I turn my steering wheel to its maximum, whether it is left or right, I hear something under the hood begin to squeal. What would cause this? It seems to be more of an embarrassment than anything else.

If you means you hear a squeal while holding it against the stops, that's the steering pump stressing out. If it's squealing while you are actively turning the wheel check your fluid level.

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Mike Tangas
73 280 SEL 4.5

Sounds to me like your belt is slipping. The reason it does it at the stops is because at those moments the pump goes to full pressure and is harder to turn; thus the loose belt slips.

My 300TD has a mild squeal when the steering is held to the stops. Does that hurt the pump? Several other cars I owned did the same.



[This message has been edited by Pieter (edited 07-27-2000).]

Gentlemen,
The best advice I ever found in this area was,

If you hold the steering wheel onto the stop , the pump freaks and its either a loose power steering pump belt too loose and slipping and getting hot or ........the belts gripping and the pressure relief valve in the pump is singing.!
When youn need full lock on the steering , take it to the limit and back it off a little bit .....one more time!!!! :)
And check that belt or belts...about 1/2 inch deflection over the longest run ...giving it a firm handshake....
Monitor the Fluid level everyday so you know its not a leak prob.....and pwr steer pumps overpressured from holding it on the stops blow out oil seals and can crack chassis rails....true!


[This message has been edited by ColMc (edited 07-27-2000).]

My 500SEL once did the same. My local, trusty agent told me he had seen a few installations with an internal break up of the pressure pipe from the pump to the box in the past and replacing the pipe had fixed a few of them. In my case, a relatively inexpensive rebuild of the pump did the trick. You can see if the belts are slipping if you drip water on the pulleys with the wheel hard over and the engine running, the screaching should stop for a while until the water dries out. Just my 2 dirhams worth !