Strange groaning / squeaking noise from steering column

My '98 4.6HSE makes a loud groaning noise when you turn the steering. The noise appears to come from within the cabin and not under the bonnet.
It never happens when the car is cold (thats why I never noticed it when I bought it). Any ideas?

i had that problem when i had a p38, i took the steering wheel off and oiled the upper and lower column bush but it still made a groaning noise. stumped for a while then i flushed and changed the power steering fluid and the noise went. jobs a goodun.

Thanks Aaron, one question though, any idea why changing the power steering fluid would make a difference?

i put it down to the oil loosing its body and not lubriacating the steering box bearings/ bushes properly there for transmitting the groaning noise up through the column under load, ie lock to lock. use dexron 3 to replace the 2, its a better spec oil.

OK, so I have time on my hands and gallon of Dextron 3 ready to flush the steering fluid. There doesn't appear to be a straight forward way of achieving it. Draining the fluid out of the resovoir is simple enough but how do I get the rest of the fluid out of the box. I can't see and drain plugs. Any suggestions??

Not any mention of drain plug in RAVE. Just let go a hose? Make sure you only run the engine with sufficient oil in the reservoir, and bleed the system as per the book. Could the groaning noise you first described been due to low fluid and/or air pockets in system? This causes something similar to cavitation, and the noise can be transmitted into cabin thro` the steering column.

OK so I disconnected one of the hoses from the reservoir. Then I let the engine turn over for few seconds and had the wife gently turn the steering wheel. Didn't want to do this for more than a few seconds. Anyway I reckon I got about a litre out which would be more than half of the fluid. Topped her up and took her for a run and no noise -success. Thanks for all your help.