horrible squealing from steering
 

'02 elantra GL with about 53k miles. My wife had the accessory belts replaced a couple of weeks ago, and right afterwards it started squealing like crazy when you started it in the morning and tried to turn the wheel. The noise would go away after a few seconds. I figured it was a loose belt, so I tightened the belt by adjusting the power steering pump position. Did this repeatedly with nochange to the squealing, regardless of how tight or loose I made it.

I put it to what I thought would be about the right tension (about an 1" of deflection from firm finger pressure halfway between the pulleys) and it seemed no better or worse for a few day. I could see the pulley on the power steering stop turning briefly when someone tried to turn the wheels with the car not moving, so I figured I'd take it in to get it looked at when our other car thatis having work donecomes out of the shop, but now it is getting worse. Today on her way to work my wife said it was squealing on the highway when she wasn't turningthe steeringwheel much and that it was hard to steer at times. Anyone else had this happen? Is the power steering pump going bad? Or should I worry about more serious problems, like the rack and pinion being bad? Either way I think it is still under warranty.

Any help is much appreciated, as we really can't have both of our cars out of commission at the same time!

Jim

RE: horrible squealing from steering
 

If under warranty, take it to the dealer. If the new belt didn't fix the problem, there may be a problem with the pump. You have checked the PS fluid level, right?