Car is at the dealer right now. I just turned 100,000 on my 2006 TL and feel the power steering is going out for the fourth time. Car is up to date on recalls.I had it replaced around 70,000 when it was real bad in the winter time. Second time was that summer. Third time was when my A/C compressor went out. Each time it took several attempts to get the P/S to act up.

My buddy drove my car and while trying to park said"oh man power steering's acting up",so figured time to get it replaced again and it's been over heating and the A/C is weak. I wanted all issues to go under the same service ticket so I only pay once for the over heating,A/C and P/S. Found out the A/C was over charged from the dealer when they replaced the compressor,so the drained and refilled that for free. Dave Mungenast of St.Louis dealer can't find anything wrong with over heating or P/S.

I went out in the parking lot and 1 out of 6 times it would stiffen to where I have to fight the wheel when turning back and forth. When it acted up in other parking lots I would give it some gas and it loosens up.The service adviser would not sit in the car with me to see it and said nobody is available to test drive with me. I then drove it for 10 minutes,A/C was still weak and over heated, so brought it right back. While waiting I found they chipped my center trim which I painted red but refuse to do anything about it because it's not factory.

Finally got it to overheat while at the dealer, originally thought it was the thermostat. Heard mechanics and service adviser talking about me "we need to find out if that's a factory computer" I jumped in "no,I wish it was a different computer or tuned". They said the A/C is at 43degrees and could feel weak due to oil pressure. Feels like they are just looking for ways to get me out of the shop and not work on my car. The adviser John L. would give a chuckle each time I told him something.

He called me today,turned out it was a bad fan relay causing the overheating. Asked me to bring the donor car back today but I couldn't due to work then asked if I could bring it in early tomorrow but can't due to work.Again feel like I'm being rushed to get out. Still can't find anything wrong with the P/S. Noticed on the first set of paper work for this trip they suggested timing belts and a water pump.

1.Can a timing belt and water pump effect the A/C,over heating and or the P/S?

2. How can I get my P/S to act up in front of the dealer? Should I refuse to pay until someone test drives with me?

3.When replacing a P/S pump do they replace all the gaskets like this guy did in the P/S overhaul?

4. Should I take it to another shop to look at the A/C if the dealer says it all test fine?

5. Should I replace the thermostat on my own just because it's close to the 105,000 mile replacement suggestion or wait to see if the car over heats again and see if the dealer will replace it under warranty?

6. How important is it to change the water pump and timing belts?

7. What is the average price for timing belts and water pump?

8.Should I try to get a light weight pulley to throw on while everything is already apart for the belts?

I know that's a lot of questions but if anyone can answer some or give me overall advise that's great.

 

Forgot to mention before they could get the car to over heat the dealer said it could be my mesh grill and fog lights blocking air flow. Pissed me off, I've had my grill for over 50,000 miles along with the fogs,and even did some trimming to allow more airflow including getting drilling holes in my crawl with no issues. Added some coolant additive that claims to help fight over heating days before it overheated the first time.

For the power steering,last month I sucked some fluid out and added Seafoam trans foam which works for power steering,made so change. Did the same thing to my girl friends 01 intrepid and it was instantly smoother.

For adding a lightweight pulley during the timing belt replacement, I do have subs if that makes a difference.

 

Anyone?

 

Picked it up from the dealer and made a fuss but got a mechanic to sit with me and finally got the P/S to act up after some trying. They know I have the problem but have no solution because a P/S pump test fine and don't think replacing it again will fix it. They then tried to sell me a P/S flush for $136. I was under the impression they flushed it when doing the P/S pump. I'm going to try a flush myself. Plan on getting 4 bottles of Amsoil to drain and refill,making sure the system is cleaned out of any original fluid. Wondering if I should wait until the timing belt is done?



No more over heating and A/C is working much better for how old the car is. Dealer said they have never replaced a thermostat on a 04-08 TL so I'm considering skipping that unless anyone suggest just doing it because of the age?

I did tell them exactly how I felt when they called me back to do a phone survey on my recent experience.

 

There is a member who used to post a lot a long time ago who has had a lot of PS rack problems as well on a 2006. His screename is not coming to me, I'll let you know who once I remember.

I also have a 2006 with a lot of steering rack problems. It was making a clunking sound intermittently especially when you shift left/right. Just did not have smoothness. Was not easy to replicate with the dealer but eventually I was able to show them on a drive. Dealer said I had to have the whole rack change. i thought it was a small problem and that was an extreme remedy but hey, it was under warranty at 45k so I didn't care, got a steering fluid flush out of it and hose recall done as well back in 2008. It was like a day/night difference, I didn't realize how bad the steering feel had deteriorated.

Then again at 51k in 2009, again....same problem again. But by this time I had lowered the car because my car was out of warranty and was running plus size wheels. Of course the dealer was going to blame all that and on top of that the car was was past warranty but the dealer agreed to make an exception. Soon after (the same week) the same problem returned. Dealer looked at it and again blamed my suspension and wheels. I know that's not the problem but I'm not going to win that argument.

My car is at 109k now and I still live with it. Car still drives fine, just a small clunk. No harm done. Never had a single problem on this car besides this one. Did my 105k service at 95k and everything is A-OK. But I am a bit anxious of the rack blowing up one day.

 

Did a power steering flush and refill twice with Seafoam transtune (for transmissions and power steering) and Amsoil synthetic power steering fluid. Defiantly noticeable how much smoother it turns in general but still decides to get stiff when parking or similar slow turning maneuvers.
I just ordered my UR crank pulley-stock size and timing belt kit. Hope it improves the steering but don't expect it to,just glad I'm doing something nice for the car.

Extended warranty expires at 102,0xx miles. Wonder if it's worth it to try extend my warranty incase rack and pinion goes out? One place quoted me around $50 a month.

 

1.Can a timing belt and water pump effect the A/C,over heating and or the P/S? NOT at all..

2. How can I get my P/S to act up in front of the dealer? Should I refuse to pay until someone test drives with me? As soon as it happens drive it to the dealership and have their highest exp. technician look at it.

3.When replacing a P/S pump do they replace all the gaskets like this guy did in the P/S overhaul? That guy did an overhaul, dealers just replace the entire pump.

4. Should I take it to another shop to look at the A/C if the dealer says it all test fine? Dealerships for the most part would be your best bet to diagnose a problem correctly since they have wiring diagrams and a scan tool which can go into different computers.

5. Should I replace the thermostat on my own just because it's close to the 105,000 mile replacement suggestion or wait to see if the car over heats again and see if the dealer will replace it under warranty? If you have Acura Care, or a 3rd party warranty, have the dealership run the information and see if it's covered or not.

6. How important is it to change the water pump and timing belts? Very, unless you like replacing your engine when the belt snaps.

7. What is the average price for timing belts and water pump? $1,000+

8.Should I try to get a light weight pulley to throw on while everything is already apart for the belts? Sure, why not as long as you get the OEM sized pulley.

I know that's a lot of questions but if anyone can answer some or give me overall advise that's great.

Quoting you here "I went out in the parking lot and 1 out of 6 times it would stiffen to where I have to fight the wheel when turning back and forth. When it acted up in other parking lots I would give it some gas and it loosens up."

1st off, racks over heat by constantly turning the wheel back and forth a few too many times while trying to park. This could be your case which is normal, what is not normal is when your parking and just started to park, the steering get hard and when raising up the RPM's without moving free's up the steering then you have a bad P/S Pump.

"I then drove it for 10 minutes,A/C was still weak and over heated, so brought it right back"

Well, no duh.. A/C isn't going to perform well if your over heating. If they replaced the bad fan relay then the fans that cool off the engine and or work for cooling down the A/C Condensor wasn't working which is why you overheated and why the A/C sucked. Since they fixed this issue there is nothing else really I can say about the matter.

Words of wisdom from someone who does this for a living, I've seen countless people who always drop crazy money into making their cars look, sound, perform, handle ect nice but not a single penny in real maintenance repairs. You get these same people who never service the trans or do the timing belt and run into deep repair bills. Do whats best for you and your expenses, if this is the only thing you can afford to own then don't skimp out on maintenance. A honda dealership would do your timing belt for cheaper.

 

Big thanks to 04WDPSeDaN for easing my car worries.

Had my local shop do the timing belt,water pump, tensioner, and two idlers from ,UR pulley,and serpentine. I disconnected to battery long enough it asked for the audio code so the car could relearn the parts that were replaced.Running much better now. I can't remember when the Steering locked up last like it did before. A/C does take a few minutes to get cold but it's livable. Engine has not come close to over heating. Random popping from the front still happens but less frequently. UR Pulley feels like it's smoother and quicker like a weak turbo but I'm sure it's all in my head. I asked about changing my tranny fluid and pan but it was not recommended because I never changed it before 100K.

After 2 weeks I notice the timing belt making a light grinding almost a ticking sound when sitting still(parked or neutral),can't hear it while driving. Took it back to the shop. They said it's normal and should go away in at most 5,000 miles due to the timing belt stretching and settling in,"good to drive the hell out of". Haven't noticed any leaks in coolant or steering fluid,but the coolant level is lower than it was last week when I checked it.

The sound does not change based on RPMs or tempature and it coming from inside the timing belt cover. Always use 91octane,oil and steering fluid levels are good. Some sites are saying I need to add a shim to a tensioner or loosen up one of the tensioners. I listened to the audio in the Acura timing belt chirp TSB and it's way louder than what I'm hearing. Wondering if they are right about the timing belt or just too lazy to take it apart?

Now that I"m out of warranty I'm going to get another extended warranty just incase something very expensive breaks like the tranny or engine blows up.

 

There are two tensioners - did they also replace the serpentine belt tensioner? Are you sure the sound is inside the timing belt cover? You can run the car without the serpentine belt to rule out that tensioner.
You really need to replace that transmission fluid - lots of discussions on here about that. Also, would your warranty provide coverage if you don't change the fluid?

 

Damn, I was thinking about going back to Dave Mungenast for my service as that is where my car was serviced before I purchased it. Not sure if I want to do that now with your experience, might have to take it to Frank Leta.

 

I'm not sure which tensioner was replaced. I'll take a pic of the old parts later tonight. Pretty sure it's coming from the timing belt area because it's on the lower left side of the engine. How would I take off the serpentine belt? This is just a guess without doing any research.I'm thinking take off the large pulley near the power steering fluid and slide the belt off.

30seconds long about 2 minutes long with an engine rev.
I'll have to ask my warranty friend to see if prior maintenance is needed to keep the tranny warranty.



I always heard you"Can't beat a Leta",lol. Took my car there before I know Muenganast was closer with no issues at the Leta location. If you do go to Muenganast make sure you don't get Jon L.,bigger guy with very short hair. Other service people there are good and easy to work with but I've always had some issue or issue come back with that dealer.

 

Had an axle replace at the dealer because I though my warranty company would cover it. Steering felt tight after wards but seems to have loosen up. Wonder if that's related to the axle? Humming sounds remains but not as bad so I don't notice / care any more about it since it's not cause issues.

 

Ran is running fine but power steering is now getting stiff again. Hope it's just the weather getting colder causing it.