Whenever I turn the wheel it makes a noticibly louder-than-it-should-be whining noise. It isn't any harder to turn the wheel but I'm concerned that the pump may be going out. What do you think? Maybe just change the fluid?

 

Mines done that for a year now.

 

Mine has done it for years too. power stering fluid is fine and even replaced the rack. never had any problems with it just kinda loud.

 

drain your reservoir (1 hose at the bottom of it) then put a bottle of friction modifier in and fill the rest with power steering fluid. it will quiet it down A LOT. my green truck sounded like chewbacca
yes, its LS additive but it wont harm anything

 

^Interesting

Mines always done it. Tried replacing it with a new pump and it sounded worse.

 

Throw some Lucas power steering fix in there... it works well!

 

ya justin (toreador4x4) told me about it. worked great.

 

I'll have to give the LS additive a try. So I drain all the fluid and then add the bottle?

 

yeah if you don't wanna put it all in you don't have to but i drained mine, put the bottle in, and filled the rest with PS fluid. the bottle is really small anyway 4oz

 

Fords power steering pumps are the worst about being noisey. Most of the time, like some of you stated already, even when you do replace the pump its either the same, or worse.

The Guy with the Friction Modder above is right on track. That is exactly what I use at work only its says QMI on the bottle. Its got teflon and some other things in it I dont know.

If you check your hoses for soft spots, this can indicate a hose that is caving in on its self.

Otherwise my only recommendation is to flush your entire power steering system and refill with FORD brand fluid. Sticking with Fords brand fluid for some reason keeps their pumps quitter. This is what I do when I get noisey pumps, go right to the manufactures fluid and it usually stops. Ive got 143K on my OEM pump with me actually flushing it every 15K miles. I still have no issues.