JazC2

Sometimes I get some steering "groan" when car is cold but goes away quickly. And then other times, after driving on the freeway for 20+ minutes I get more of a whining noise when turning the wheel but strangely it gradually subsides after drivng around slower for a while off the freeway. Fluid level looks okay.. Been like this for like 2 or 3 years. Doesn't seem to be getting signficantly worse. Seems to come and go pretty random. Any preventative mainteance I should try to diminish the issue and/or delay having to get a new pump or whatever?

Carpayment4life

You can try bleeding any air out of the PS system.
Put a 1 foot by 1 foot piece of cardboard under each front tire.
Start the engine.
Turn the steering wheel all the way in both directions at least 3 times.

I don't think that the fluid will splash out, or vibrate out, if you do this with the reservoir cap off.

You can put the front end up on jack stands, if you don't have any cardboard.

Marine One

I am experiencing power steering pump whine, starting about a week ago. My on line research suggests that the fluid in the system needs to be changed periodically. If it is a dark color it should be replaced. There are also two rubber O rings one on each of the hoses where they attach to the power steering pump that need replacing. When they get old they allow air into the system. One other thing that needs to be looked at is the filter in the base of the power steering reservoir, as it will restrict the fluid flow. I will be removing and replacing the fluid and the two O rings and back flushing the resrvoir tomorrow. I've had my 2008 MDX since mid June and it has always suffered from hard steering at low speeds. It should have had the pump replaced per the TSB, but I have no record that it was done and now it is too old to get the service done for free. If the foregoing doesn't rid the car of hard low speed steering and the noise I will replace the pump as it is easy to get to.

Carpayment4life

If you need to buy the p.s. pump assy, the same part number is used, for the mdx from 2007 thru 2013.
56110-rye-a04 Look for a wrecked 2013, on ebay

low miles 2007 pump

used pump

Marine One

I replaced the O rings and fluid, and cleaned the filter in the bottom of the reservoir with compressed air two days ago with absolutely no change. The noise and the lack of power steering assist at idle are still present. When the engine RPM is increased to 1,500 it works fine, so I have concluded the pump is at fault. The car qualified for the TSB pump replacement, but there is no record that it was ever performed. My intent was to order a new pump with a lifetime warranty from Rock Auto ($180 plus shipping), but given that it is Labor Day weekend, the earliest it would arrive was on Wednesday with "Next Day Business Express" shipping for $23.99. Ordinarily this time delay would not be an issue but I will be taking the MDX on a 3,000 mile, two week road trip starting on Sept 10. Yesterday I went to the local Autozone and picked up a new, lifetime warranty USA made power steering pump for $173.33 out the door ($179.99 minus 10% military discount plus 7% NC sales tax). And although the validity of retail auto parts house "lifetime" warranties was recently beaten to death on a Gen 2 MDX forum on another site, I was assured by the counter guy who is also the store manager that it is, in his words," warranted for as long as you own your car. If it fails, bring it back and we'll replace it." This was after I asked if the warranty covered if it just wore out as a result of normal wear and tear. So it will go on either today or tomorrow. I'm taking the chance on a part from Autozone in part because of the location and lack of difficulty to access and replace this item. If this were the alternator, I would probably not go this route due to the difficulty in removing and replacing it. I am just really ready to be done with this issue.

Carpayment4life

Press onward.
I thought the alternator was going to be hard to get out and back in, but I was wrong.
It took about 2 minutes to wiggle it out (once I moved some easy stuff and got the bolts out) and about 1 minute to wiggle the new one in.
I was careful to focus on the direction the it was positioned, when it popped out.
My issue was routing the serpentine belt.

Marine One

Serpentine belt was a b*tch both times that I removed and reinstalled it. First time was last weekend after the noise started. Thought I'd *just* pull it and manually turn each of the pulleys and see if I could isolate the source of the noise or find any play in any of them. I never did find the exact source of the noise and had one hell of a time getting the belt off and back on. Last time I drew a diagram of the belt and how it routes with the pulleys which helped some today when I replaced the pump. The only hiccup today, aside from the struggle with reinstalling the serpentine belt was the loss of a 12mm 3/8" drive socket. Spent about an hour looking for it and never did find it.
Power steering pump replacement was a good news bad news story. The good news is that I now have power steering 100% of the time, so the pump did need replacing. The bad news is the noise isn't as bad now, but is by no means completely gone. So, I'm unsure whether I have a bad power steering hose, a bad serpentine idler/tensioner, an alternator bearing that is going bad, or something else. The alternator is putting out the right amount of juice so it is doing what it is supposed to do. I am at a loss as to what to do next. I am inclined to just drive it, but have a big trip of nearly 3,000 miles coming up over two weeks. The last thing I want is to get stranded somewhere because I ignored the symptom of something that could have been an easy fix at home, but instead turned into an ordeal on the road.

Marine One

Update to my situation. Mechanic friend took a look and a listen with a mechanics stethoscope yesterday and said the noise is definitely coming from the alternator. Ran the MDX by an auto electric place in a neighboring town that has been in business forever and has done excellent work for me in the past. The man there said the whine is a bad rectifier. He will replace that and give the genny a good going over for $80, if I pull it and bring it in with a same day turnaround. If I want to just drop off the car the labor for the R&R is $120 so I'd be out a total of $200, which I still think is a really good deal. Looking at videos now to decide whether to tackle the R&R myself.