My TL has been in the shop for the last 5 days to repair a problem with the power steering rack/unit that was leaking and causing a loud, grinding noise upon startup. It must be a pretty uncommon problem b/c they had to special order the part. When I did a search, I didn't find a lot of people having this problem (how was I so lucky

Can somebody who knows more about cars than I do explain what exactly this problem is and if I should be concerned. It doesn't seem like the type of problem that should be occuring in a brand new car with only 5,000 miles.

 

Actually, they almost always special order those non-regular maintenance parts.

A power steering unit that leaks mean the power steering fluid which helps you move your steering wheel from side to side doesn't get to the motor where it needs to. That's probably the cause of that loud grinding noise - no lubrication.

There have been a few other reports of this problem so do a search and see what their symptoms/resolutions were. Good luck with that!

 

^Thanks!

 

Don't feel bad it's just as Lore mentioned. Mine has been in since last Wednesday for the temperature flat line problem. Navigation system unit is on national backorder. I think everybody stocks damn near nothing.

I'm not pissed because I have on 05 non-navi loaner with fewer miles than mine has. Lets just be glad we have a warranty to take care of this stuff.

 

But hell why be glad you have a warranty, you are entitled to service. I would be worried that they put the same level of quality back in the car and it dies again. This time maybe even after the warranty is up...

 

at 5k my power steering pump was replaced because it was leaking.

 

More toys->More to break Oh well, Warrentees rule. Im just worried about small problems that screw over entire systems in about 10 years. Although if my dad really loves this car I can probably get him to get the next gen after this is paid off.

 

I keep my cars a long time, so I'm worried about the long-term health of a car with so many electronic goodies. I trust the good Acura/Honda name.

Don

 

It sucks that this happened to you, but it doesn't seem like a wide spread problem at this time as there aren't a bunch of people on AZ bitching and moaning about it.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Mechanical parts break and not everyone manufactured is going to work for as long as it should. The chances that you're going to have a problem with the replacement is slim.