Whining Noise After a Heavy Brake

[wyattmengy]

Hi everyone,

 

Yesterday morning I was driving my 07 FF 2.3L manual to work, I braked kinda hard before one intersection. Right after the heavy stop, I noticed that there was some kinda low whining noise from the engine bay. I noticed the noise seems to happen under heavy braking or steering.  Also after stopping sometimes the noise pulses up and down and the engine RPM does the same.  If you fully disengage the clutch while the car is moving, the noise goes lower. That makes me think it is the power steering (I don't think the brakes are related to the engine in any way) pump or maybe the belt.  After I got home I checked the steering fluid and it's kind of hard to tell but I think it might be low.  Might just require more fluid or tightening the belt?

 

I don't have much idea what was going on, but I don't want to bring the car to the dealer without knowing, or at least knowing what's the likely cause for a problem. Does anyone have some idea for what was the cause for the noise?

 

Also the warranty left on the FF is only power train now. So I think they are not going to cover much if some big parts break down. Hopefully is just fluid.

[wyattmengy]

A little update: I just found that once the engine start to run, the power steering fluid will leak out! That's definitely power steering hoses' fault. But I'm still not very sure about whether this is the source of that whining sound (now gets pretty loud). Let me bring it to the dealer tomorrow.

 

Damn Ford, just a sudden brake damages the steering system. I read from somewhere that the power steering pressure also assists the braking pressure... Just hoping the price of fixing it will not be too high.