I have a kind of baffling mystery and I hope someone out in list land can
help me with it.  I have a customer's van here that has had a whining power
steering pump for all the years that I have been working on it (almost 4
now).  The folks initially had a leaky hose which we replaced with a new one,
and then replaced the pump with a good used one from a junk yard.  At the
time, that pump whined too, and we just wrote it off as bum luck of getting a
used pump that was also a whiner.  Recently they brought the van in and asked
me to make the whine go away.  I put on a couple used pumps I had here, and
both of them whined as well.  Finally they said, "OK put on a rebuilt pump."
I did, but lo and behold it is whining as well and I just can't figure out
why.  The system has new fluid in it, the power steering filter has been
changed (most of you didn't even know there was such a beast did you?), and
everything is tight and not leaking.  The rebuilt pump is from ZF and I would
think it a very big coincidence that this was a dud rebuild seeing that any
other pump that I put on there also whined.  The only other out of the
ordinary thing in the system is the high pressure line to the pump from the
steel line that runs under the van.  We replaced it with a line that was made
up from a local hydraulic shop and the diameter of the line is a little
smaller that the stock line.  We have checked the reservior and supply lines
to the pump for obstructions or restrictions, but with no problems found.
Any ideas as to what could be causing this problem?  This is the first time I
have had a whining pump problem not be solved by just replacing the pump.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-765-1583
Fax: (856)-327-2242

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