steering "hiss" noise
 

When I turn the steering wheel either all the way to the left or the right, I hear this gawd awful hissing sound from the engine bay area. If I hold this full turn the sound does not go away, however just move the wheel off a full turn and it quiets, not as noticable. I do hear this hissing noise sometimes, though, when I'm not in a hard turn.

Sounds like crap and it's REALLY loud.

Any ideas? I want to think this through before going to the dealer and have them tell me, "this is normal" BS.

I know for a fact that it has gotten louder recently. BTW, I have 2,000 miles on my X3.

:dunno:

This is normal, nothing to worry about. I hear the same sound when I turn the wheel all the way in either direction. The sound goes away when I let up on it a bit. Never keep the wheel turned all the way when you park. It F's up the power steering or so I've been told. Does anyone know what causes this sound? Is it the powersteering overworking itself?

The thing with me is that it "seems" to be getting louder. :(

I know how you feel. When I first got the X, I was worried about the littlest things too. But you are right, it can get somewhat loud sometimes. I think that noise is common among all cars ??

I've never had a car with power steering that didn't do it at full lock. If you think it's getting louder, have the stealer check it out (or turn up the stereo!).

Or get an intake and exhaust. ;)

The noise is normal with power steering when you go to full lock. Ease up on it a bit, as it's probably not good for the pump.

I agree it's normal. Hear it on every car that has power steering. I have also read / heard it's not good on the system to hold full lock. Back off just a little bit. I almost never hit full lock either way.

The only time I know of when you should turn full lock to lock is when refilling a drained system or filling a new one, as in replacing the rack, to get all the air out.