Hey guys, thanks in advance for any ideas.
Here's the deal. I've got a 2000 XJ, completely stock, with 125,000 miles on it. About a week ago, a rather loud squeal came from the engine compartment just as I was parking. I shut it off, had lunch, and turned it on an hour later to hear the same noise. As I backed out of the parking spot and started moving forward, the noise was gone.
Off and on for the whole week, the noise would come and go. It would almost always be there when starting the engine and would typically go away after getting the engine up to about 2k RPMs. Thursday and Friday, however, it seemed as though I'd need to get to highway speeds before it would go away. Also, it would randomly not exist when starting sometimes!
So, last night, I drive to a friends house and park. A couple hours later, I start it up and try to back up to find the steering wheel doesn't turn very easily and the "check gauges" light has kicked on. The squeal was louder than ever at that point.
Starting to sound like a bad power steering pump b/c of the difficulty moving the steering wheel, but would it have still been squealing when the XJ was not moving right after starting the engine?
I'm a complete newb and know just enough about cars to get myself in trouble, so before I head off to the mechanic, any ideas of what I *could* get myself into would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Here's the deal. I've got a 2000 XJ, completely stock, with 125,000 miles on it. About a week ago, a rather loud squeal came from the engine compartment just as I was parking. I shut it off, had lunch, and turned it on an hour later to hear the same noise. As I backed out of the parking spot and started moving forward, the noise was gone.
Off and on for the whole week, the noise would come and go. It would almost always be there when starting the engine and would typically go away after getting the engine up to about 2k RPMs. Thursday and Friday, however, it seemed as though I'd need to get to highway speeds before it would go away. Also, it would randomly not exist when starting sometimes!
So, last night, I drive to a friends house and park. A couple hours later, I start it up and try to back up to find the steering wheel doesn't turn very easily and the "check gauges" light has kicked on. The squeal was louder than ever at that point.
Starting to sound like a bad power steering pump b/c of the difficulty moving the steering wheel, but would it have still been squealing when the XJ was not moving right after starting the engine?
I'm a complete newb and know just enough about cars to get myself in trouble, so before I head off to the mechanic, any ideas of what I *could* get myself into would be appreciated.
Thanks!