Power Steering Fun

[CalLook67]

So over the last week or so my '06 9-5 has developed a rather impressive groan from the power steering pump, usually going away after warmup, but this morning it kept groaning the entire way to work, with some minor shuddering at the far extents of steering lock at a stop. I checked the reservoir and saw primarily foamy orange fluid, with little showing on the measuring stick on the cap.

Having done some searching online, it seems that I have a combination of a number of different issues, these being:

a) wrong fluid, and
b) bad pump and/or
c) leak in hose allowing air and/or
d) collapsed hose creating cavitation

Obviously some more thorough investigation underneath the car is needed, but in the meantime, I'd like to know where y'all recommend going for sourcing the various hoses to and from the steering rack, as well as any other thoughts/additions to the list of potential culprits.

Edit: I also took a stab at pinching off the return hose with my fingers while the engine was running, the noise got noticeably worse with the hose partially blocked off, for what that's worth.

[Dave T]

My experience with power steering fluid has only been with Pentosin CHF11S, which is green.

I believe my 2005 9-3 had this color fluid.

Perhaps the first fix attempt should be to get some Pentosin and add it so that the level is correct? Try to suck out the old fluid, which you won't get much, and add new fluid. After driving a little, repeat. That's a way of replacing fluid without draining it.

A bad pump will mean that after driving around a little, the fluid in the reservoir will not be orange but still be the green that was put in.

A leak can partially be determined by looking for stains around the hoses.

[CalLook67]

Dave, I appreciate your input but I seem to have found the main problem, which I didn't really think of until I checked the reservoir when the car had cooled; the level was simply low so I got some generic Power Steering Fluid from a local store and topped it off and the noise went away. I'm definitely going to start looking for leaks and such and try and find some replacement hoses for when I flush the system with the correct fluid.