Hello all, I have a Front-wheel drive 2009 Pontiac Vice that I bought in 2011. I have been way up in northern BC where it is -15 Celsius for most of the winter. I plug my car in, and give it ten minutes to warm up each morning. We had a warm period for about two weeks (warm as in 0 Celsius, it's not warm, but warm in comparison to -25), and then now we're back to the cold.
As of last night I started to hear a whining noise coming from my car. It only makes this noise when driving slower than 40 miles/hour, and occurs whether or not I am turning the steering wheel. It does not occur when I am driving backwards or when the car is on but stationary.
I am curious for your input before I take it into a mechanic. I know next to nothing about cars besides how to change the fluid levels before a road trip, so I am worried that I will take it to a mechanic and they will gouge me for everything I have. This is why I am looking for input, so I don't get sucked into a bunch of BS.
I also couldn't determine if I have power steering fluid in my car. I looked but couldn't find any under the hood (I found my brake fluid, oil, windshield washer fluid, and coolant). Do I have powersteering fluid or have they evolved to non-fluid technologies for power steering? And if I do have it, where might the power steering fluid be under the hood?
Thanks a lot in advance for any help or advice!
Edit: Oh, and the intensity of the noise is low, and sometimes non-existent. It seriously varies hour by hour. I will go back to work after lunch and it will whine, but four hours later when I go home it doesn't whine. This is why I think it is an easy fix, it should just be low on a fluid, or maybe a line snapped? If it was something more serious I think it would be a more consistent noise, adn most likely louder too.