L322 Power steering

Hi all. There's a godawful noise coming from the front of my engine, kinda whining/grating, worse when turning the wheel. I'm guessing it's the power steering pump. Am I right? I've checked the fluid and its about an inch and a half below minimum and a coffee colour.
- do I just top up and hope for the best?
- given the colour of the fluid does it need to be flushed?
- is the pump toast?
- is changing the pump a diy job? I'm reasonable with the spanners, at least on my series...

Finally, I've recently paid to have some rusty oil lines replaced by a garage, there were the pipes coming out of the oil filter housing. Could doing this job disturbed the power steering lines and caused a leak?

Car is 4.2 SC 2005. Thanks all, any help really gratefully received!

Fluid should be red ATF, at least it is on most cars. I would drain and re-fill and see what happens. Do check the manual though for the correct fluid.

Datatek said:

Fluid should be red ATF, at least it is on most cars. I would drain and re-fill and see what happens. Do check the manual though for the correct fluid.

Click to expand...

Thanks Datatek. I'm going to flush out all the old stuff and put new in. Trying t find the correct fluid, seems the genuine LR stuff is 20 odd quid a litre, but Ravenol SSF is same spec and half the price, so might go for that - unless anyone tells me differently?
Worth chucking in a bottle of Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak too?

Is it leaking? if its not don't add shi* you don't need, and if it is, fix the leak don't cover it up

What is the condition of the belt like ?

I'm not sure if it's leaking, the level is low certainly - but by the colour of the fluid I doubt it has been looked at/touched in years.
The belt looks OK.

Re flushing the system. I'm reading conflicting advice on how best to do this - and not 100% sure if any of these ways apply to the supercharged layout.
Any recommendations? It's pretty tight at the front and not sure if I can easily remove the return hose at the reservoir.
Thanks again

You could
Remove the PAS reservoir from mount.
Remove the return pipe from reservoir and point into a bottle.
Have an assistant start engine but DO NOT REV It!!
Pour clean fluid into reservoir until fluid running into bottle is clean.
Stop engine.
Refit return pipe
re-mount reservoir
Start engine and top up.

Job done..

If the Pump is grating though, that will be the impeller bearings, usually accompanied with play in the pulley and leaks etc etc

Thanks. Of the two pipes, one bigger than the other, which is the return?

Just done this and seems to have solved the noisy pump. Only needed about 1l to flush through.
For those doing the same, it's the smaller bore pipe that is the return to the reservoir, so disconnect this one.