2009 159 .2.2 Ti power steering strange problem

[OzzyAlfa159ti]

Hi all

Sorry in advance for the long post.

My 2.2 suddenly the power steering started whining.
At idle it's not to bad but when I rev it and turn the wheel it becomes really loud.

I checked the obvious.
Oil level, very low
Just touching the bottom of the dip stick, apparently it's meant to be either red or green,
Mine seemed very light yellow.
It was very clean and transparent
I was advised to put in PENRITE
LDAS FULL SYNTHETIC . It's green

didn't help.
Also checked to see if the filter was dislodged and it wasn't, well I think it wasn't, I could feel the filter laying down directly under the cap side.

Then I noticed that when the steering wheel is turned full lock  for a short second, the power steering pump pulley gets very loud screech and it gets jammed for a second, the belt seems to expand slightly at this moment,
The belt seems fine and under hand tension it seems ok
The pump pulley where there's 4 holes/slots at the front , seems like old oil stains, guessing it's the pump leaking hence why the reservoir was low?
Or bearing has failed?

Or is it the belt expanding and locking the pump from turning?

Could some how air got into the system?

Any way ,any help would be greatly appreciated

[Colin Edwards]

Fair chance its been topped up for some time with the wrong fluid.  I had a similar issue with my 2008 159 AWD V6 Ti.  Used a syringe to remove the fluid from the reservoir and topped it up with LDAS.  Did this every day for a couple of weeks or more until the fluid looked pretty much like new LDAS.  Into the second week the steering felt noticeably better. 

Colin.

[bazzbazz]

First thing, as the reservoir was very low you may have a leaking High Pressure Hose, so check for any signs of fluid leaks in all the hoses, this is the usual cause of such issues.

If there are no leaks I would take it to an alfa specialist to be assessed, doing a proper fluid flush and replacement may help/resolve the issue but the pump may need replacing/refurbishing.