2002 Honda Accord DX 2.3L. Power steering issues
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From: Southern Ca, home of the nuts in gov't
2002 Honda Accord DX 2.3L. Power steering issues
My Honda Accord having severe issues with PS system.
Started when whole car had a vibration. Took it the dealer and paid dearly for some repairs including replacing trans mount. Vibration was still there. Then I finally had time to evaluate it myself.
When turned all the way one way or the other, could see the PS pump stalling. It also had a crack and !eak so it needed to be replaced. Looked down and saw the harmonic balancer having a slight wobble. I was pissed the dealer didnt see that! It was due for to timing belt. Good time to replace it. I had a mechanic others used with good experience do it. Due to an injury, I couldn't do it.
Bought a PS pump for AZ and harmonic balancer. Mechanic did the work. All looked good except that PS pump was making noise. It had new bearings so thought it was weird and thinking it needs a break in.
About 10 mile drive home it was much noisier.
Just a slight movement on the steering wheel and the pump squealed . As it squealed, felt the pump and can feel the gears. Thinking bad PS pump. Later see a large oil spot under neath, drivers side behind the wheel. Is that near the rack/pinion gear box.? If it is, I hope its a hose. Mechanic said it just might be that. With the old PS pump, it did not squeal like now. And only had a problem at full max turn. Also with the old pump, the steering wheel had to be turn back and forth due to air leaking in the PS pump. It was fine except at max bottomed out turn both sides.
I did keep turning steering wheel back and forth with the new pump to be sure air is bled out but no change.
Could it be bad leaky hose at the rack/pinion gear box, or bad rack/pinion gear box itself. Or still bad PS pump even if its new.
The car was drivable but not now. The PS steering seems to quit just for a second.
I need this car so any help please to trace down the problem. The mechanic did say PS is hard to track. Recommended replacing the steering rack/pinion, new hoses and possibly the pump again.
In the morning, I'll jack up the front and look at the lower hoses for leaks. Hope its a hose
Started when whole car had a vibration. Took it the dealer and paid dearly for some repairs including replacing trans mount. Vibration was still there. Then I finally had time to evaluate it myself.
When turned all the way one way or the other, could see the PS pump stalling. It also had a crack and !eak so it needed to be replaced. Looked down and saw the harmonic balancer having a slight wobble. I was pissed the dealer didnt see that! It was due for to timing belt. Good time to replace it. I had a mechanic others used with good experience do it. Due to an injury, I couldn't do it.
Bought a PS pump for AZ and harmonic balancer. Mechanic did the work. All looked good except that PS pump was making noise. It had new bearings so thought it was weird and thinking it needs a break in.
About 10 mile drive home it was much noisier.
Just a slight movement on the steering wheel and the pump squealed . As it squealed, felt the pump and can feel the gears. Thinking bad PS pump. Later see a large oil spot under neath, drivers side behind the wheel. Is that near the rack/pinion gear box.? If it is, I hope its a hose. Mechanic said it just might be that. With the old PS pump, it did not squeal like now. And only had a problem at full max turn. Also with the old pump, the steering wheel had to be turn back and forth due to air leaking in the PS pump. It was fine except at max bottomed out turn both sides.
I did keep turning steering wheel back and forth with the new pump to be sure air is bled out but no change.
Could it be bad leaky hose at the rack/pinion gear box, or bad rack/pinion gear box itself. Or still bad PS pump even if its new.
The car was drivable but not now. The PS steering seems to quit just for a second.
I need this car so any help please to trace down the problem. The mechanic did say PS is hard to track. Recommended replacing the steering rack/pinion, new hoses and possibly the pump again.
In the morning, I'll jack up the front and look at the lower hoses for leaks. Hope its a hose
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Re: 2002 Honda Accord DX 2.3L. Power steering issues
Check out Scotty Kilmer's YouTube video "Fixing Sticking Power Steering" and his other power steering related vids (he has several hundred total car repair YouTube videos 100M+ views). In one of them he uses Seafoam TransTune in the power steering fluid to remove some of the buildup and makes the power steering turn smoothly without replacing the pump.
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Aslan14
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Mar 21, 2008 08:08 PM