my Moms Toyota Sienna minivan has some problems *VIDEO*

[Losiracer2]

My mom's van recently (today) started whining when the car was started. Its like this mechanical while. At first I thought it was low on PS fluid and checked and it was okay, the level was fine. The belts aren't seizing on anything but whenever you rev it, it whines louder than normal. Its a 2003 Sienna w/ the 3.0 liter vvt-i V6 engine and has 119K on the clock. Here's the video clip:
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[Losiracer2]

Anyone know whats wrong?? they're leaving for San Fransisco tonight and i dont want them to get stranded.

[blackcb7]

when you turn the steering wheel does it get louder at all? has any work recently been done to the car. it doesn't sound like a belt issue. sounds like there is air in the power steering system

its kind of hard to diagnose without being there

push down on both belts and see if the tension is correct,

[Losiracer2]

when the wheel is turned left/right, the sound just stays the same and the RPMs don't dip or anything. The guy at autozone said it might be the powersteering pump going out?

[blackcb7]

like i said kind of hard to tell.

is there bubbles on the power steering fluid?

is there a certain area of where the sounds is coming from, like the lower left

if from the lower left, front of engine towards you, then i would have to say that is your ps pump.

you have to becareful with anything that is making noise like that, sometimes the pulleys freeze up and belt will get ruined and maybe cause more damage.

i would advise against that long trip to san francisco until the problem is fixed

[nhia-cb7]

i would advise against that long trip to san francisco until the problem is fixed

X2

[Losiracer2]

the PS fluid looked kinda dirty but not TOO dirty, no bubbles at all, it was at the right level. Its just this whine that's noticable. When i drove it to Autozone to see if that guy knew since it was 9pm already, they were the only ones open, but he didn't notice much at first. I drove there and back and the whine didn't get any worse. But they already left. I found a Toyota dealership in Palm Springs b/c that's where they're gonna stop for the night and hopefully it wont get any worse before they come back home.

[nhia-cb7]

since you guys are not sure whats the problem,
staying would be alot safer...

better to be safe than sorry

[Lil' Whitie]

give them ur cb and show them the relibility of a honda,

and u drive the van and figure out whats wrong.

[NAiL05]

Sounds like something in the power steering. Does the steering feel stiffer in anyway? If the pump is cavitating bad enough it will foam up. But as blackcb7 said its kinda hard to diagnose on the net.

[C91BLX7]

My moms camry kinda makes that noise when its first started but, but its more of a high pitched wine, this sounds a little deeper.

[accordztech]

sounds to me either some bearing going a little or a really bad tentioner. could also be the water pump bearing, all those are a bitch to get to in the vans. i have a mercury villager that shares the same motor and its not fun.

but the power steering pump sounds like it can be it too. take it to a mechanic and eat the labor, the timming belt is easier to get to than the water pump.

[C91BLX7]

sounds to me either some bearing going a little or a really bad tentioner. could also be the water pump bearing, all those are a bitch to get to in the vans. i have a mercury villager that shares the same motor and its not fun.

but the power steering pump sounds like it can be it too. take it to a mechanic and eat the labor, the timming belt is easier to get to than the water pump.

I thought the Villagers had Nissan motors not Toyo?

[Losiracer2]

na the timing belt, along w/ all the other belts was done at 94K and shes got 119K on it. Last night, i hooked up my Escort 8500 X50 radar detector to it, it has a mode where it measures the voltage in the car through the cig lighter, and it was hovering from 11.9 to 12.3 volts when started and idling, for comparison purposes, my CB runs from 13.5-14.9 when driving and about 12.1 when off. So i knew something had to be wrong w/ the charging system. The car cranked up fine but just had this noticeable whining right afterward.

Okay fast forward to today. They're in Palm Springs, so they made it there fine. They took it to a Toyota dealership to get it inspected and my mom just told me that the Head mech. says its the Alt. that is on its way out. All in all, parts and labor for that is around 500-550 w/ tax. So i guess there really wasn't any other option, since they have to drive all the way to San Fransisco today, so they're getting it done. Sucks b/c I coulda maybe done it for them and saved them like 200 in labor. But better safe than sorry, when an alt. konks out the battery gets drained too right? So hopefully that'll fix it. But thanks for all your guy's help trying to figure out what was wrong.

[Clueless]

possibly a bad bearing in one of your accessories... is there any rubbing going on?