Ok I've been searching all morning, and I'm pretty sure I either have a bad PS pump or a blocked line, but I still have 2 questions that I couldn't find answers to in the search.
1) Maybe a stupid question, but a lot of people that posted about this stuff talked about "dirty" PS fluid. What is it supposed to look like?
2) My PS resivoir was over filled, well past the full line, and the fluid was full of bubbles. This is why i'm thinking blocked line. Is this a sign of something else?

Thanks for the help guys.

 

The proper fluid is a light green color and very thin consistency.

 

Well mine must be old as **** then, its brown. Also, it was pretty thick, but it was also like 25 degrees this morning. Either way its getting changed. Any thoughts on the bubbles?

 

Sounds like its just pulling air into the system, Possibly a leak somewhere? Hose clamps not tight enough? idk im no expert just throwin somethin out there

 

Well i started my car back up again a second ago, i was doing a little more research and saw that in most of the other threads, the whining from the pump went away after the car idled for a few minutes. This morning, I turned it off after a few seconds. So a second ago, i let it run for few minutes and sure enough, the whining went away. I checked the level in the resivoir and it was normal, most of the bubbles were gone.

I'm at a loss. I can't find any leaks either. I think i'm gonna go change the fluid right now and see where that gets me.

Thanks guys!

 

yah for sure change the fluid. You should be running P12 in there. One guy was having these same issues flushed his system and added the right fluid and everything went away.

 

Well i changed the fluid and took it for a drive, no noise, no bubbles, everything seems to be ok now. Still haven't found any leaks. It needed to be done though, the fluid that came outta there looked like chocolate milk :-X

 

Haha yah that can't be too good for it :P

 

my dad's highlander had a bad high pressure return PS line that caused his car to have the same symptoms as your plus low fluid level. i'd throw some lucas in with it just in case

 

i had the same the symptoms with whining and thick fluid, after idling for a while it went away and i haven't really noticed the problem yet again. Although my fluid isn't the greenest or thinnest, ill get around to changing it soon.