isiginamo

I bought my 95 ES300 about a year and a half ago. It had a whine to the engine, that was worse in very cold weather. Well I have been checking all my fluids, and everything seemed to be just fine. Yesterday morning, the whining was very loud, and almost sounded like a little metal on metal screaching. I checked all fluids again and found my power steering fluid was low, and almost black.... not a good sign a presume. It smelled burnt. I added fluid and the noise went away, until this morning. It still has a whine, not as bad, but still there. Could I have still ruined the power steering pump, could air be in the system, or do I need to flush the entire system. I almost want to take it to a lexus dealer, but it is 3 hours away. DUmb question.. but... would a power steering pump going bad, put strain on the engine, and cause gas mileage to go down some? MPG have been dropping some in past month or so.

P_M_G

Check transmission - I had similar sounding whine - mine ended up as the fluid pump for the tranny (notorious for whining on a cold start at this age) and the grinding was the flywheel (I think that's what he called it) due to worn teeth.

isiginamo

Would you still say that could be a cause. Remember, yesterday I added fluid and the noise went away. Started again this morning. Wouldn't that suggest it was just the power steering? In any event, how do I check the transmission oil pump? It wouldn't hurt checking it to see if its working properly.
Thanks!