Hi Everyone,

Wanted to document the saga for fixing my partners RDX. Recently within the last 2 weeks she said the steering is getting stiffer and a clunk was associated with it.

While checking the car i noted that the power steering fluid is not dark and is at the correct level.

I was worried it was the rack and pinion based on the clunk, however it only happens when turning to the passenger side. I suspect an issue with the passenger side suspension.

The power steering pump has a groan when turning the wheel and i am not losing any fluid. The pump was from another used RDX from a junk yard and seems to get noisy when turning the wheel. There is a drop in rpm when turning the wheel as well. My theory is the pump is going out and i will grab another yard pump or rebuilt a spare i have to see if that fixes the issue.

Will verify suspension issue at the next oil change.

Hoping its just the pump as i am not too thrilled to buy a rack and pinion. Car is fully reliable with no codes otherwise.

 

Drove my partners car the other night for about 100km. Seems like the power steering pump is making pretty significant amounts of noise and is probably the cause of the failure. Power steering fluid level has not changed in 12 days.

Gotta find a pump and do a transmission drain and fill to complement the first one i did. Oil change and winter tires on the horizon

 

Purchased a lares power steering pump new from rock auto. For reference, the steering wheel should require approx 29N of force to move when started at idle. This by chance is the same amount of force required for a honda pilot and i suspect the acura mdx.

I am hoping this rectifies the issue as i do not want to jump into a rack replacement. Will post an update later

 

Did a quick comparison, the lares pump is genuinely new, it has different stamp & mold marks from the oem acura pump. I can tell it was tested in factory and the parts look pretty good. Will report after installation tomorrow.

 

Installed new pump but it was whining a lot. Need to do a full ps fluid flush in a few days. The fluid was clean prior to install so i am not to sure what happened, maybe all the bits got displaced by the much higher pressure. Her power steering has never been so strong so we will flush it until the fluid is squeky clean. If its 2-3L then so be it.

 

Well this is embarrasing, had a case of torqing to hard with the starter now to light. The pulley nut come off and the pulley came off the pump. She got it towed and the car was not on on in 1C weather so no overheating. Got a spare pulley, nut, and a spare nut. Also got 2 L of fresh fluid to flush with. Hoping we didnt shred the splines but my partner said they didnt look bad. Will have a fun hour or two reassembling. She said the belt looked fine so worst case we can replace it another day!

 

Full flush done with the assistance of an electric rachet and 2L of valovine power steering fluid Used blue loctite on the new pulley as the old one was shredded when the nut came off. All quiet now on the car