HI. I have a 2004 SantaFe (3.5) with 63k miles on it. I know my way around cars but for the sake of preventive maintenance, I had the dealer change the Timing Belt (along with the 2 accessory belts). Upon picking the car up... there is a distinct whine from the power steering pump. This was not present before. Dealer denies hearing it after timing belt completion. They quoted me for replacing the PS pump to correct the problem. I wasn't convinced but to ease my mind I replaced the pump with a recon unit from NAPA. Flushed the system, bled it, topped it off with PSF3. Makes the same whine noise as the original pump though the steering works fine. the interesting part... if the auto trans is in reverse.. the noise is gone until I place it in drive. since that would make the back of the engine tilt upward a bit I started thinking perhaps the dealer tugged a of the pressure lines against something on the chassis causing the resonation that's transferring down the line. can't find anything. I removed the PS belt to confirm.. noise not present when pump not driven. Also.. in that way off chance that the NAPA pump had an issue... I exchanged it for another. No luck.. same exact noise. 3 pumps all with the same noise? I'll rule the pump out. Anybody have any ideas? PS tensioner pully? any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

 

i thought the 3.5L had a timing chain?

as for the power steering you might want to check the screen, in the psf fluid tank.

 

The 3.5L in the older Sante Fe's (2001-06) is the Sigma which is an larger, iron block version of the 2.7L MU (which is a modified version of the 2.7L Delta). All 3 use a timing belt.

It's the 2006-up Lambda engine that uses a chain (available in the Santa Fe in 2007-up). The Lambda comes as a 3.3L, a 3.8L and in 2010 a new 3.5L used in the Kia Sorento (and others eventually).

I agree 100%. mbice520, see this TSB for more info:
http://www.hmaservice.com/files/331/...-ST-001pdf.pdf

 

Just a follow up. Thanks for the TSB on the PS fluid reservoir. I should have noted I already saw that and it was my starting point. it was clean.. but to make sure I removed it and washed it out. A note on my experience with the dealer. Because I don't feel comfortable with the road I'm being lead down, I contacted Hyundai Consumer Affairs just to get everything documented. The dealer went ahead with the PS pump replacement... and confirmed what I already suspected. It was not the problem. Even though they called and said it was fixed and I could pick it up. When I started it... same noise. Thorougly disgusted they couldn't hear what sounds like an old police siren in the passenger side foot well. Now they suspect it's the steering rack. a very big price tag. I also have a hard time accepting that this component suffered immediate failure following a timing belt replacement. Dealer's theory is that they see shavings in the fluid... they belief the rack is sending them into the pump. if that were the case.. wouldn't the screen prevent them from being recirculated to the pump?

 

my car squeaks horribly when it starts up and is cold, and only from time to time and very quietly once my car is warmed up. when i am sitting still and try to turn the wheel it resists and is really slow. I have a 07 with 76K on it, could the power steering belt be going?

 

HI. I have a 2001 Santa Fe (2.7) with 58k miles on it and it has the same whine noise that you describe on this thread. Unbelievable that the dealer cannot hear the noise. This noise is really annoying. We also thought the problem was the PS pump and I was to replace it until I read your thread. Did you had any luck with it? Thanks.

 

My SantaFe (3.5) no longer makes the noise. Though I'll never truly never know what corrected the issue. The car was at the dealer for days and days. I can tell you that the pump was replaced many times... then I OK'd having the dealer replace the rack.. but they kept it an additional day to replace an idler pulley on one of the 2 drive belts. When I did get it back it no longer makes the police siren noise. But now the steering is very clunky. Still working on getting that fixed. It was a huge repair bill. One that I will very much remember when the times comes to choose my next car. Good luck with yours. I hope your remedy is more straight forward (clogged PS fluid screen?) then mine was.

 

Thank you so much for the information. We will take a look into the PS fluid screen and go from there to see how does it go.

 

Is the noise really coming from the clogged Power Steering Filter?

 

P/S pump is external to the timing belt... only thing you could do is install the P/S bellt loose, or backwards.. Timing belt has nothing to do with P/S operation.