I started my car the other day for the first time in about 3 weeks. 99 3.2tl I use for shows. when the engine turned over i heard a loud grinding/spinning noise coming from the power steering pump area. I immediately shut it off and waited a bit. took a look and saw nothing obvious. so i started it again and the noise was gone but i heard a bubbling noise coming from the power steering fluid resevoir. the fluid is backed up and coming out the top. sure enough i try to turn the wheel and its stiff. A friend of mine said the noise i heard was the fins breaking on the pump and now that they are broken the noise is gone, apparently it is common on savannah vans.(hes a GM mechanic). I dont need the car till next spring anyways, but I wanted to see what you guys think. has anyone had this problem. If it wasn't snowing i would take it to honda, but i dont wanna drive it in the snow/shitty weather. I would try to drive it without the power steering, has anyone done that. i hope its just the pump or something small but alas its an acura.

Any suggestions.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

You'll need to remove the belt from the pump if you want to drive it without power steering.

If the fin did break there will be plastic in the system, that cannot be good for the car.

 

When i hit the curb awhile back, i lost my power steering too, I highly would avoid it if possible. I only drove it twice, from my house to the shop, and it was difficult. Everytime i turned the wheel it would make a grinding noise and then something would break. For sure its not ur core though so you're fine. But don't drive it.

 

post some pics of your tl.

 

x 2

 

..lol Tom, you ass. Help the man out with his problem.. hahaha..

 

Ive driven without power steering, its not that difficult when the car the is in motion. Trying to turn the wheel when stopped isnt that hard. But be sure to take the belt off 1st.

 

go to car domain.
its no. 3 for 99 tl

I think im just gonna tow it as i have a couple CAA tows to use still. I just hate other people touching my car and shit. since i bought it no ones worked on it but me. my motivation always drops in the winter tho.

does anyone have a decent diy on possible solutions. im not gonna do anything soon anyways.

 

when you say and then something would break, do you mean additional parts broke in the process or that it just sounded like that. Im definitely not drivin it if additional parts sound like they are breaking

 

wouldnt do 1/3rd of that to a TL but to each his own

 

And I wouldn't do it to anything else

when i go to shows there are like 4 or 5 of my car, at the most. I always get put with the rsx's. the integra is the only other car i would spend this much (time) on.

ya i could have did a civic, like everyone else, but being unique is important to me.
Ive only seen 1 tl like mine. he got flamed so bad on cardomain he took his car off the site. he had some wierd ass stickers down the side and a really gay wing, and an ugly as hell hood scoop(stick on). I would never do any of that to my car tho.

 

I've had the same problem happening to me (except mine didn't break) when I was going to start my car once every few week when it was stored for winter.

The P/S pump would make noise, and fluid would come out the top of the tank... After the engine warmed up, it would always come back to normal.. I had to refill once or twice...

I use the car frequently now so I think I'm gonna be ok...

There's a service bulletin out for bad lubrification of the P/S pump.. that's what causes the problem.

 

was you power steering working when the fluid was coming out. Im only assuming its broken i really dont know for sure. i tried to turn the wheel and itr was very stiff, so i stopped.
you just gave me some hope tho. lol

 

Have you driven the TL without it? Mine you could barely turn the wheel even when in motion. I had to drive 80+ miles without it once and it was mostly Freeway and it was the hardest drive ive ever done.

 

And thats exactly what mine feels like right now.
Stiff as a rock, i might just back it into the driveway and see if i can turn it at all in the process.
thanks

 

And as far as i remember the TL doesnt have plastic impellers inside.

 

get some wheel dollies. will help if u have to moved the car somewhere

 

ya thats what i thought, and even still how would they just break. my friend who had that idea is a gm mechanic so he doesn't really know about the honda's. but apparently that happens on those savannah vans.
but i agree with you, i really doubt they are plastic