Hey guys, haven’t posted in a while as I haven’t had any issues. Last week my 2006 6mt started to whine. I narrowed it down to the area near the power steering pump, tensioner pulley and alternator.
I purchased the tensioner kit to replace it, git the belt off, spun the first bearing and it was smooth, next I spun the alternator and it made a little noise so I figured it was the alternator.
put the belt back on, go buy a reman started, put it on. The car still whines.

It gets louder as you accelerate and doesn’t make change when turning the steering wheel and no bubbles in the reservoir.
I still have the tensioner kit but the sound seems to be coming from the power steering pump.
Has anyone had issues with the power steering bearings?
At this point I’m tempted to replace the tensioner and the power steering pump.

 

I’ll see if I can record the sound with my iPhone. Now I have to figure out how to attach an audio file.

 

I hope this works.

 

Have you replaced the belt?

 

The belt is fairly new. I’m pretty sure it isn’t the belt.

 

Does it make the noise with the belt off???

 

I thought you weren’t supposed to run the car without the belt on? Anyway I just snapped the bolt that holds the tensioner pulley into the engine.
I was following a post on the forum here that said the bolt was reverse threaded.
it wasn’t. Now I’ll have to lift the engine out.
I may just junk the car. Piece of crap.

 

Turns out I read the post wrong. The boot that holds the whole pulley on is not reverse threaded.

 

Well, I guess I can take it off your hands...

I'm pretty sure there are no reverse threaded bolts anywhere on that car. Make sure you get a quality extractor. A snapped extractor tip inside a broken bolt just turns a day from bad to super crappy.

 

I believe the idler pulley is reverse threaded

 

Going to tow it to a mechanic now. I’ve done enough damage.

 

Auto-tensioner pulley bolt is left-hand threaded and a few are in the transmission as well.

 

Can it be extracted without lifting the engine?

 

Which one did you fubar?
#7 Left-hand thread
or #8 or 15 right hand thread?

https://www.acuraoemparts.com/v-2006...rnator-bracket

 

If you fubar'd #8, that one appears to thread into the A/C compressor bracket; therefore, if #15 is OK, that can be removed and the A/C compressor bracket can be removed to perform a 'fix' or just install a new #13 'without lifting the engine '.

https://www.acuraoemparts.com/v-2006...a-c-compressor

 

I broke #8
https://www.acuraoemparts.com/v-2006...rnator-bracket

 

^ You see, from the diagrams provided, my logic to the fix?

 

Bolt #8 screws into the compressor bracket. Unfortunately, you may need to empty the a/c system before removing the compressor to remove the compressor bracket. (see attached images below)




You might be able to extract the bolt with the compressor bracket in place. Here is a link to a poster with a similar problem (he apparently stripped the hole). He did not follow-up so I'm not sure if it is possible to extract with bracket in place. It seems that with the compressor bracket in place you will need to unmount the engine and tilt it to get needed clearance (post #16).

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p.../#post16568977

 

I will give the mechanic this info. Thanks.

 

I'm not sure how much space there is, but my favorite method of extracting bolts like those is welding a nut to whatever is left of the nut.

Safer than drilling, works better than any of those crap extractors (that promise everything but don't do anything) and work in tight spaces as long as I can reach it with the welder.

 

It is practically broken flush. I don’t think you could weld to it.

 

You can.

GM cars like to break bolts holding the exhaust manifold. Welding nuts to get them out is my main method, as left-hand drills or extractors don't really work.

As long as you have enough space and bolt / stud isn't stuck too bad, welding is probably the best method.

 

It’s broken flush, not sure they will be able to

 

Hey Joecop67 what's the low down on your car issue?
Or did you just opt to tow it to the recycler.

 

I had it towed to a mechanic yesterday afternoon. They can’t even look at it till Thursday

 

Possibly off-topic, but is this bolt reverse threaded to prevent it from loosening due to belt action?

 

Yes

 

^^
Also, when flexing the alt. tensioner to the rear (in changing the belt), using a 'long' tool like the one on the link below, the pressure of leveraging forward (rearward) would loosen a right hand threaded bolt; therefore, it's left hand threaded to keep it tight during this process.

https://www.jrpimpexf.com/index.php?...ucts_id=104996

 

Picked the car yesterday afternoon. They charged me $120 to take the broken bolt out, and install the tensioner pulley I supplied.
So now I’ve replaced the pulley, the alternator and the noise still persists. I guess I will replace the power steering pump.

 

good luck!

 

Glad you got the bolt out at minimal cost. That has happened to a few posters here. Any tips on how your mechanic removed the bolt? (1.life engine and extract, 2.extract in place, 3.remove compressor and compressor bracket)

Before buying a new power steering pump, you may want to run the engine without the accessory belt to rule out a timing belt area noise. I did it with no issues a while back while trying to isolate a similar noise.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...e-belt-975508/

 

I will try that. I didn’t ask how they removed it, I forgot till I got home.

 

Joecop have you tried using a tube, piece of pipe, or stethoscope to isolate the noise? You might be surprised how well that works. Slowly move a long tube around with your ear pressed tightly on the end, with your other ear plugged if necessary. When you're pointing at the source it will become much louder.

 

I tried a mechanics stethoscope but everything was so loud. When the belt was off, I spun the pulley on the power steering pump and it was making noise.
I’ll grab one at autozone. They have them new for $111, have it handy so that when I take the belt off again and start the car, I can see if the noise is gone.

 

Replaced the power steering pump. Noise is gone. An FYI, 45 minutes is not long enough for te engine to cool off.
I have big blister in the back of my left hand from getting the bottom bolt out.