I know the coupes are quite noisey but of late my engine has been sounding a bit too vocal. The belts are sqeaking and rasping away. I have spoke to two mechanic mates both of which didnt seem to overly worried.

One seemed to think it may be the power steering pump? But he wasnt worried that it was on its way out. Spraying the belts with silicone lube shuts them up for about 5 seconds, would new belts be the answer? And if so any idea about cost?

Ta.

New belts is always a good idea, try spraying the bearings instead of the belt though, should work better.

If spraying the bearings works then it's only masking the problem, but good enough to sell.

yeah its not good to spray the belt

On gen 1 & 2's (ive heard it on 3's aswell in the cold) the biggest noise maker appears to be the power steering pump. You can whip it apart and inspect the bearings, cheap to replace (or get garage to) but its usually hat that gives the repetative swoosh whoosh swoosh woosh noise

Ok cheers folks. It was my mechanic mate that gave me the silicone lube!! Haha

Stripping the powersteering... With my past experiance not a good idea!

I guess i may have to invest in the new belts/bearings.

Having the same problem with mine. Same model/year.
Turn key.
SwishSwooshSwishSwooshSwishSwoosh.

Can anyone tell me where the power steering motor is located, and how is best to perform maintenance on??
Belts don't look too bad..
Ta

mines been doing this for agree too had the belts done and made a difference for about a day or 3 and then went back to normal, so it could be the powering steering unit, hmmm

It could be - in which case I have a power steering pump which is working fine...

Alternatively, mine used to make a row from the autotensioner on the accessory belt - drop some oil on the tensioner and see if the noise goes away, if so then you've found the source