groan while turning hard and fast

I took a hard fast right hand turn and i felt a groan and it kinda felt like something was rubbing the tire. This is a bit unusual because this truck has stock tires on it but it did not sound right. A while later i took it into a empty parking lot to try to recreate the sound while corning fast and hard and it did it again but this time the groaning did not stop. It sounds like the power steering pump/reservoir and i am wondering if the screen is plugged up. I am wondering if when i corner fast and hard the pump sucks a lot of fluid and the fluid can not return to the pump fast enough because of a clogged up screen and it causes the pump to cavitate. It came out of it and stopped making noise in about a minute of sitting there i think as the fluid made its way though the filter and began to fill the pump again.

Whats the best way of cleaning these? I have seen a youtube video of a guy flushing it from the bottom and trying to blow the dirt out the top. I also seen a video where a guy uncrimped the top and took the screen out to clean it. What is the best way?

 

Are we talking a power steering whine/groan or a rubbing tire groan? I've heard both and they are very different, usually a rubbing tire you can feel and the noise is very isolated to the side that it's rubbing on. A power steering whine on the other hand sounds like it's coming from the steering wheel or in front of it (higher pitched too usually)

Could start by doing a simple power steering fluid change and see if that helps. Remember to use DexIII ATF and not power steering fluid, since that's what Toyota uses.

Usually when I do it I just use something to scrape the screen off from inside the reservoir, suck the fluid out with a big syringe and put new stuff in, turn wheels and repeat x10 or so until the fluid looks new. But the proper way to do it would be to take the reservoir off and remove the screen so you can clean both sides.

Your steering rack doesn't have any leaks does it? The boots over the inner tie rods look good and don't have any fluid in or on them?

 

I thought it was tire groan at first but then when i took it into the parking lot and did the same maneuver that made it groan the first time it would not stop groaning even after i stopped the truck. It was then i realized it was not a tire rubbing and the pump was making noise.

The steering rack looked dry before i sprayed oil undercoating allover it an am pretty sure it is not the rack.

I have owned 2 other Toyotas and they looked like they had regular power steering fluid in them. When i changed the fluid i ran Valvoline non synthetic Mercon/Dexron in the blue gallon jug. The Toyota is exactly the same the fluid looks like regular power steering fluid it is mostly clear with a hint of brown to it, it is not red. I am planning on flushing it out and refilling it with Valvoline ATF in the blue jug but i need to clean the screen im just wondering what the best way to do it is. It looks almost impossible to clean from the bottom because of the way the reservoir is made. If you spray brake cleaner in it it can not easilly drain out from the way the metal cap is formed. I kinda wanna take it apart but i dont want to screw it up.

 

I came across this post and this video it seems like a clogged screen is my problem i will be popping the top off it this weekend and cleaning it out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-clean-your-power-steering-resivor.322460/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75izDe5NltI

 

A flush won't hurt and it's pretty easy, just disconnect the low pressure line and turn the wheel back and forth until all the fluid it out. Put the tires on a couple pieces of cardboard so you don't strain your steering rack.

 

I took the reservoir apart and cleaned it out today it was an easy job. At first i used some carb cleaner i had sitting on a shelf and it barely touched the gunk on the screen. Then i grabbed a can of gunk engine de-greaser and it instantly started breaking up the gunk and dissolving it. I took a tooth brush and heated the head up with a lighter and bent it 90* so i could use it to scrub the screen in a downward motion and it did a fantastic job of cleaning the screen. Then i dumped the old container i was cleaning it in because it got too full of gunk. I was out of engine de-greaser so i switched to kerosene and it worked just as well. I dumped that contained another time or two until chunks stopped coming out. After that i washed it in the sink with dawn dish soap and dried it with a hair dryer and put it back together.

Then i jacked the front tires off the ground so i could turn the wheels easy. Then drained all the old fluid filled it up with fresh ATF and cycled the wheel back and forth to bleed it. But when i started it up it started groaning so i shut it off and the fluid had a lot of air in it causing the pump to cavitate. So now i am just waiting for the air to rise to the top of the reservoir so i can try to bleed it again.

 

I just checked the fluid most of the air had escaped so i added a little more fluid and took it for a test drive. It's quiet now that there is no more air in the fluid and now i can take corners aggressively without the pump groaning.