If you have really whiney power steering, look at the fluid and see if it's aerated (has bubbles) if so you have a suction side leak on the power steering. Seen it several times on various makes and models.

Power steering systems have a pressure side and a suction side. The suction side is from the pump to the reservoir to suck in fluid, if there is a leak on the suction side it will suck in air, aerate the fluid and make a bunch of noise

I would recommend going with a new pump, we see far too many issues with rebuilt stuff here at the shop and won't use it anymore unless we have no choice.

 

Yes there is a small amount of bubbles I can see in the fluid when I shut it off and turn the wheel back and forth and look into the reservoir. I am assuming there is no way to really check for the leak since I probably can't see it without taking the pump off and just need to buy a new one? It still does look for sure that its leaking fluid at the steering box as well though? It seems like if it was a suction leak maybe it wouldnt be leaking fluid out of the pump to reservoir mating area (and it indeed looks like the reservoir and pump assembly is completely dry) and just sucking in air but not leaking out fluid?

 

Now what if you have a Ford? They whine from the factory

 

I have seen them suck in air without leaking, it is possible. Can't say much from here about what's leaking and what isn't. When I am going to repair a leaker I always spend 2-3 hours with degreaser and a power washer and make everything clean as new and start watching for leaks and knock them out one at a time, or all at once if I can tell what all is leaking/and makes sense to do all at once.

Focus on one leak at a time maybe and put all your effort into tying up one thing at a time, may help your head from spinning and wanting to burn the truck down lol.

How true that is, just had a 90 F150 in last week that had a customer complaint of loud power steering, it had a leak and was low. But when I was done it still sounded like it had a problem... nope, just Ford power steering noise.

 

on the contrary, if you burn it to the ground; it wont leak anymore

 

I always thought the Ford wine was from their alternator? Which the belt on mine is now noisy as can be and the alternator is dropping out above 3000rpms, it just goes to battery voltage.

 

Ford's have noisy power steering by nature, but not the alternators.

Sounds like your alternator is failing, or you have belt slip not spinning the alternator at higher rpm. If you have belt noise, it's usually due to belt misalignment or fluid contamination, or it's loose. Antifreeze is horrible about making belts squeaky squaky. If you don't have fluid contamination it is likely misalignment due to the power steering pump pulley, or a weak tensioner, or belt too long.

I sometimes find power steering pulleys not pressed on all the way on those gm press on style pumps.

 

So earlier this morning I had cranked the truck up and backed it up to the garage to load up something and when I moved it noticed a new fresh spill of oil underneath that looked like quite a lot. So I jacked it up and crawled under again and cleaned the oil off then cranked it up and sat there for like 15 min and couldn't detect any sources of leaks. So now I am thinking maybe its only leaking when the oil and engine is cold?

The fact that there is drips of oil at the bottom of these hoses which are up at the front of the motor ( I think they are oil cooler lines) but the lines themselves are dry all above where the drip is is completely baffling to me?

 

Weird.

Those oil cooler lines and trans cooler lines are super common leakers. On my current truck and my last one I just cleaned them off every few months.

 

All the lines in this truck seem like they would be way harder than they need to be to replace.

The EVAP line that goes from the canister to the intake manifold developed some sort of clog. I tried putting all the pressure I could through it and whatever was stopping it up would not come out, it does leak a small amount of air by. I tried putting all kinds of penetrating fluid in it too and its still clogged. I don't know if it may have been a kink or what, but I know to replace the thing I think I would have had to pull the whole motor and transmission out. Imagine if you lived in an emission state and had to have your evap working and had to pull the motor and transmission just to fix a stupid evap line leak.