I have a leaking power steering pump on my 05 TSX with 130K miles. There is a lot of noise coming from the pump, and air bubbles in the fluid. As far as I can tell, the rack is not leaking. There is definite appearance of leaking from the seam between the two main parts of the pump where an o-ring resides. My question is this, both Napa and O'Reilly supply a Cardone PS pump for the 04-05 Acura TSX, at approximately $170.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...2869&ppt=C0031

They also supply an identical looking pump for the 2005 Honda Accord 2.4 at less than half the price.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...ord&vi=1430764

Autozone supplies the SAME part number for BOTH vehicles! So that tells me that 1, either Autozone has looser tolerances, or the parts are basically the same. A local part supplier here in Phoenix states that one of his parts suppliers has the same part number for both the Honda and the Acura as well.

Does anyone have any experience or opinions on substituting the Honda part for the Acura part?

Thanks.

 

Odds are that they come from the same parts bin at Honda/Acura manufacturing plants. If some x-references are showing the same part number, then I'd say that they're likely the same part. Why not buy it from a place that lists the cheap one as fitting your Acura, and if it doesn't fit, at least you can return it as their parts lookup was wrong, and not you taking a chance?

 

I would stick with the Acura part...its not worth the chance

 

I checked two online OEM dealers and the 2005 TSX vs the 2005 I4 Accord use different part numbers. However, I cannot see a single difference between them, so it is likely (and entirely possible as I've seen it before) that the parts are identical but the numbers are different between Honda and Acura.

http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...All&vinsrch=no

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...%29+%28-+05%29

My guess: They're the same. Get the compatible one according to the multiple sources who say they are interchangeable.

Think about it this way: Why would Honda engineers design two fairly intricate pumps for the same basic engine, when a single common pump will do? The K24 in the TSX is almost exactly the same as the K24 in the Accord - the differences are in the tuning, cams, and other efficiencies (intake, exhaust, etc) that makes the extra power in the TSX.

 

I spoke with the service write at Acura yesterday and asked him about the differences. He said that it is fairly common to brand a different part number, but there might be a subtle difference in the mounting, such as a small tab of metal or something that "you could file off". He said that mechanically they should be identical.

I am going to go with the o-ring and seal kit and attempt the rebuild myself, both to try to save a little $ and for entertainment purposes. I'll post up pics when I get into the job. Should have the rest of the parts on Tuesday.

 

On Tuesday, and finishing on Thursday, I rebuilt the power steering pump.

I knew the fluid was dirty, so I incorporated a complete fluid change into the job, which I though would make removing the pump less messy anyway.

I used my oil change vacuum to pull the fluid out of the reservoir, and then pulled the return line off of the reservoir, and jammed a section of vinyl tubing into the line, which fit perfectly, and put the other end in an empty wine bottle. I started the car and turned the wheel lock to lock several times, as described in the TSX manual ejecting all of the fluid. Or most of it I suppose. During that, i noted that the hose was stretched from being old, and wasn't sealing well on the reservoir, so I cut off about 1" from the end so it would fit tight with re-assembly.



The reservoir was filthy with spilled oil, possibly from this loose hose.



I fashioned a serpentine belt removal tool out of a piece of pvc.



The pump was pretty dirty from what I believe to be a leaking o-ring.




I first cleaned the pump with brake cleaner and q-tips and paper towels to keep from getting more grit inside it.

 

I disassembled and cleaned all pieces of the pump. It is fairly well illustrated in the manual.






I had to heat the case with a heat gun to 212 to get the bearing out. And even at that, it required a lot of hammering. In order to get the bearing off the spindle, I had to cool the spindle.



Then I had the case completely empty, and cleaned it up as best I could.




I used the old bearing, and a socket to pound the new bearing on.



The reassembly portion was a bit tricky, as I later found out. My son helped me put the fins, or vanes back in the impeller.

 

It is tricky getting the pump assembly tucked back into the case. This picture, something was apparently wrong inside the pump, as when I had it on, it wouldn't pull a vacuum and pull the fluid up from the reservoir. Either that, or it needed to be primed, which I did after rebuilding it. So, I put it all back on the car, and filled up the reservoir, and nothing. I got so frustrated trying to get it to work, but it wouldn't refill the system with fluid.



So I pulled it back off, and took it apart again. By this time I was becoming pretty good at it. I made sure to follow the manual exactly, and put all the parts back in. This time, I left the cap cover bolt off the pump, and installed the pump on the car, but didn't hook the belt up yet. I used a small measuring cup and poured fluid in the top cap of the pump, rotating it back and forth until it was full enough that fluid was starting to accumulate at the inlet and outlet ports. I then put the cap on, torqued it, and re-attached the hoses. The large 3/4" bolt head at the top of the case is the cap I speak of.




This time, I started up the car, and it pulled all the fluid out of the reservoir. So I shut it down again, refilled the reservoir, started it again, and it continued to pull fluid. I did this, turning the wheels lock to lock several times until the fluid level stayed constant. It now works great, and is completely silent.

This is a picture of the old fluid that I pulled out when initially draining the system. It is pretty brown, and the new fluid is clear.

 

Wow, awesome work man!!! Out of curiosity, what did the rebuilt cost you and did you need any special tools? Or just standard rubber mallet, wrenches, sockets, and serpentine tool? (I just double-wrench it, it works!).

What was the actual part you replaced?

Cheers!

 

The total cost for the parts was $24 plus tax. I replaced the front bearing, which I probably didn't need to do. However there is a seal under it, that you have to pull the old bearing out to get to, and the act of pulling the old bearing has the potential of pitting the bearing races with all the pounding. Plus 3 24oz bottles of Acura (honda? whats the difference?) power steering fluid that I don't know right off how much they charged me for. The biggest investment was the time involved, which was considerable. But I learned a lot and gained some confidence working with this vehicle.

Aside from a torque wrench, and a small pic for pulling out the old o-rings, there were no special tools involved. I followed the torque specifications in the TSX repair manual. I was surprised to find that the 'top cap' was a 3/4" measurement. ? Only bolt that wasn't metric. Well if it was metric, I didn't have the metric equivalent, and the 3/4 matched up perfectly.

The factory part is over $400, so as long as it holds up, I came out ahead. Seems pretty solid so far.

 

Oh yeah, I did use an impact wrench to take off the pulley. Made it super easy. I had the psi set down to about 60, and was able to hold the pulley with one hand and use the impact wrench to remove the nut easily. No special pulley holding tool. Same technique for installing it. I didn't properly torque this nut, but it seems like it's on there well enough. I did however use Honda Moly 60 (motorcycle grease) on the splines, which I don't think was necessary since the splines don't really move against each other, but it can't hurt. Old BMW motorcycle habit.

 

Here is a complete parts list:



I didn't buy them from this website. My local dealer matches internet pricing, so this is what I paid. Plus the fluid of course. Each seal or ring comes in a separate little baggie. Leave them there, because they are labeled, and the manual refers to a "12.7 mm o-ring" which I would have no idea which one it was, but cross referencing this parts list and looking at the part number on the baggie, I can figure it out easily.

 

bump for a good diy on a tsx power steering pump rebuild, wish it was easier to search for this online

 

Yeah this was a bit hard to find, I just finished ripping mine apart to see what other parts I might need, everything else looks good. So I will be ordering exactly what OP suggested.

I am also crap-ily videotaping myself ripping apart the pump to help myself put it all back together. (angled phone on other random crap so camera faced the disassembly) So if you guys want to see it I'll post it up eventually.

 

was it hard to take it apart? do i need special tool to remove the pulley, and do i need a vice? thanks!

 

There is an excellent video on youtube on this job.


good luck

 

Just wanted to report, in case someone else ran into this. I ended up replacing my TSX 05 steering pump with the Honda as stated in OPs post and it is working great right now. I bought all the components of the TSX pump to try to rebuild it as per the other post in here.