Steering Noise

Hello.

My '88 Cherokee does a loud whining noise when I turn the wheels fully to one side or the other. When I force it to the very end, the RPMs drop to 0 and the battery light lights up.

When its warm, it makes the same noise (just not so loud) everytime I move the wheels, even if just a little bit.

I notive also that the steering has excess slack.

Seems that I need a new steering pump (i think mine is the original one and it has 143k miles)... am I right, or can it be another thing ??

Thanks.

So, am I guessing it right ?? Is it the power steering pump ??

did you check the power steering fluid level and for leaks? might just be a bad bearing on the power steering pump pulley or idler pulley. open the hood and check where the sound is coming from while someone turns the wheel.

The fluid level ok.

Will check for the noise source tomorrow...

Thanks, 89xj...