What's Wrong With My Power Steering Pump?
 

I need some help with my new Ps pump, I recently replaced my ps pump because I thought it needed replaced as my steering wheel was very stiff, so I bought the part at autozone 2 months ago and it sat in the trunk. I had new tires put on the car the same day I had planned on putting the new pump in, well when the tires were put on the Gs drove fine. I decided to have my buddy change out the pump who is a lexus mechanic, well after it was swapped the car ran fine , nice responsive steering wheel , until the next day. The car whined more than my girlfriend, my buddy came back over and checked the fluid level and it was half gone, he put more ps fluid and it bubbled like crazy. I was told I had air in the system, so 15 mins later the car was fine no bubbling no noise. I drove the car all last night and she was fine , now this Am she is making the whining noise again and now I have ps fluid on my driveway. What is going on? Do I have a defective pump? Please help!!

I would start by trying to find where the fluid is coming from. It could be the pump, rack, or any of the PS hoses.

I just drove the car around and the whine is gone, I looked in the resevoir and there's almost no power steering fluid in it , how can it whine and drive fine with little to no Power steering fluid in the resevoir ? This is so frustrating.

Just had my pump replaced a few months ago. Mechanic tried an aftermarket brand to save money. Squealed like a stuck pig. The only solution was to pony up for the Lexus OEM pump. Runs like a boss now.

Looks like that is gonna be my route:( I went the cheap ass route myself aswell. Not gonna be that bad since I already ponied up 115 for the crap pump, just 200$ more :(:( I cant wait to take the junk pump back to autozone , cant wait to hear what they tell me .