Archived No p/s,p/b or garage and it's 20* out !

[PMelton]

Ok, I did a search in the archives and found a few results but I'm gonna ask here anyway.



I was leaving for work this afternoon, unplugged the block heater (it never got over 20* today) fired up the truck and immediately had no p/s. There was a small whine for a second or two, but nothing I've not heard before on a cold day. The brakes did work initially, but then quit also. Now being late for work, I didn't have time to check the fluid.



Question is:



What is the first thing to check and what remedies should I try before arbitrarily deciding it's the pump and going through what appears to be a rather undesirable job of replacing it in soon to be single digit weather ?

 

[bmoeller]

Changing the P/S fliud helped mine when it was cold. No more whining either.

 

[FourBarR]

Get a turkey baster and suck out the old fluid ,get you some valvoline synthetic power steering fluid. will fix the problem unless the pump is bad. hope this helps.

 

[PMelton]

Thanks, that was going to be my first move. After that..... :{

 

[PMelton]

UPDATE: Well, it's now 8* out but the good news is the fluid swap took care of the problem.