Rubbing/straining noise when turning steering wheel..

[[em0te]]

Hey every one, I'm new to this forum, and this is also my first car/Toyota.. That said, I've tried searching the forums before posting, and I could not find anything relating to the problems I'm having.

It's a 200 Echo, stock, 4-door, 5-speed.

As of yesterday, when driving (even when parked), when the steering wheel is turned in any amount, it sounds like there's this rubbing/straining sound coming out of it.

It's not specific to one side (sounds like it's coming from the middle of the vehicle).

The car drives normally (so far, haven't driven it much since it started). The steering feels normal (in terms of the power steering), it's not sluggish or hard to turn.

I've been told it could be a number of things, like the power steering pump, tie-rods and/or ball joints.

I am not very car-knowledgeable, I know the basics but that's it. I don't have the space/tools to fix it myself, nor do I have the cash to put into fixing it yet. I'm the 2nd owner, and the car ran great until this happened (even still it drives normally).

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Anything that can help prevent me from pulling any more hair out.

[Stevo_Echohb05]

I'd say you're in the ballpark, but there's no way for us to know what you need without looking at it.

[denman]

My Echo does similar for the first few miles after start-up. My rotors looked rather tired when I swapped my snow tires on last fall so I'm thinking that's my noise. I'll be replacing rotors and pads in the next week or so , ... if the noise disappears I'll report back.

[[em0te]]

What was causing the sound in mine was a bad power-steering return hose. It was leaking fluid like crazy, which in turn was causing the "dry-rubbing" sound when turning the steering wheel.

Thankfully the high-pressure one is fine (as it's a lot more expensive).

[denman]

Glad you nailed it, ... my noise disappeared when I replaced the rotors and pads. Both had lots of material but were just really unevenly worn, with much reduced rubbing surfaces. BTW I pushed in a lot of Silicone Brake fluid while I was at it, so the system is close to all SiBF. ... the stuff I took out looked real good so my son may have switched it to SiBF in a previous brake job before I acquired the car, ... he's a believer as well, ...