I swear there's a cricket in my power steering.... O.o

[ZaLiTH]

Well, where do I start... I know my car is falling to pieces slowly, and this theory is reconfirmed everytime I take it to a mechanic to fix one thing; that's when they find two more problems. Lol.

However, here's an interesting issue that I'm not so sure what to do about.. I don't have the money right now to go get anyone to look at it, so I'm hoping someone could maybe just shed some light on a potential cause of the problem.

Just over a month back (approx 800km of driving for me), I got my power steering pump reconditioned.. It was shaking horribly and pissing fluid everywhere. Anyways, all was good and well for ages, and now suddenly a few days back it started 'squeaking' in a way.

But it's not the normal belt squeak... It doesn't change at all with engine revs rising or falling, and makes no difference if the car is moving or stationary. Also worth mentioning is the way it squeaks; it sounds like a cricket's chirp, very high-pitched, very fast, and very constant for the most part.

The strangest part (to me) is the point at which the squeak goes away... When turning the wheels (i.e.: pressure on the steering), the squeak stops. As soon as I release the steering wheel and it 'relaxes' back to whatever position the wheels are in, the squeak comes back. This happens exactly the same regardless of whether the car is moving or not.

I have tried searching Google (and subsequently this forum as well), and I find thousands of posts about squeaky steering when turning or at full-lock, but nothing quite the same as my scenario. So... Anyone got any bright ideas here...?


Edit: I just realised I forgot to mention the car... My mistake. This is happening on a 3rd generation '93 Toyota Camry 300SEi (3VZ-FE engine with automatic transmission).