Power steering pump?

The past couple of mornings when starting my truck( 02 Tacoma Dbl cab 4WD) it has the typical whine like it's low on power steering fluid. When I checked the fluid level, it was good. The whine doesn't last long. Maybe 2 minutes or so. Was wondering if the pump is going bad or is there something else that makes the same sound as the power steering does? Thanks.

 

I would check your screen in the reservoir, sometimes they clog up and then the fluid has a hard time getting down to the pump. That what happened to me so I removed the screen and cleaned the bottom of the reservoir and the screen and put it back together and worked great since.

 

Great. I will give that a try. Thanks for getting quick response.

 

You are welcome. hopefully that fixes the problem

 

Be careful with the O ring when you put it back on. I fubarred mine when I cleaned my screen, took a few days to notice that it was leaking and I had trouble getting the return line back on so I decided to replace that. When I realized that the return line wasn't the issue winter had officially hit so it was below 20 so I was too lazy to fix it in the cold. Got used to not having power steering so it took me 9 months to fix it. Replaced the O ring and filled with fluid and it actually still works very very well and is quieter than before I "fixed it" by cleaning the screen.

When filling up the reservoir with ATF jack up the truck's front wheels off the ground and have the engine off and the reservoir lid off. Then turn the wheel from side to side to remove air bubbles checking the fluid level as you go, make sure not to fill too much otherwise you may overflow from bubbles escaping.

 

Well, after listening to everything under the hood, I was able to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Turned out to be the bearing in the tensioner pulley for the a/c compressor. Thanks again for all the quick responses and info.