So my power steering pump has been leaking for a while, and I know it's the o-ring but I haven't really found the time to fix it. Today, car had been making a weird whining sound, different from the usual power steering whine. Went through a drive-thru to grab some lunch on my break at work, and suddenly the car bogged down, would hardly accelerate at all, and a thin white smoke started coming out of the hood. Smelled like burning plastic. Seconds later, my headlights start flickering, so I freak out and shut the car off.

After shutting off the car, it wouldn't start again. The dash lights went dim, then after trying to crank it once more, there was absolutely zero electricity. Even the little auxiliary door lights and stuff wouldn't turn on. Tried to jump it, and the jumper cables just melted within 2 minutes Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking somehow the PS fluid shorted out the alternator, or something along the lines of that.

 

sounds bad but could be a lot of things. any pics of your engine bay? we may be able to spot out something wrong.
for the jumper cables to melt, there must be a constant short circuit so there should be some obvious puddle of fluid somewhere. the power steering fluid leak usually leaks in the back near the rear cat, its been known to start fires but not short out the battery. but either way theres not much to go on unless you show us pics

Off topic:
btw if you're looking for someone to help you with the power steering pump rebuild, I can do it. I've done mine before.

 

actually I was thinking, this is no ordinary problem. for it to cause jumper cables to melt is very weird, since the jumper cables connect from your positive terminal to the other car's positive terminal. Even with a short circuit in your car, it shouldnt affect the jumper cables. unless you connected the jumper cables wrong, like you short circuited the jumper cables somehow.

 

My PS pump looks like it's been leaking near the top of the belt on the left. There's a lot of residue around there. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow morning when I get up to look at it again, but the fluid will probably have evaporated by then

 

Well most car fluids don't evaporate that fast, it's not like water.

There aren't many electrical parts in the belt area though, at least nothing that would cause a serious short circuit.

 

Hmm, I'll look around and take a few pictures in the morning and see if I can find anything. Hopefully I do soon! :/

 

.75 cents for the o-ring would of fixed it but now that its been
"leaking for a while"
its going to cost more than that.

youre lucky the car didn't go up in flames.

 

from what hes been describing its actually the power steering internal seals as described in the power steering pump rebuild thread. the power steering pump internal leak is the one that leaks down the engine though, not over the rear cat and causes fires

that being said, the internal seals cost under $20 for all of them

 

Hard to believe there is a connection between the two

 

any updates OP?

 

Sadly no.
:-( it's midterm week for me and I didn't even have time to look at it today before work. Have it parked at the in-laws house cuz the windows are stuck down. I'm thinking of just having AAA tow it to a shop and just let them have at it.

 

So I took the day off of work to deal with this crap, and I bought a voltmeter. So what should I be looking for to troubleshoot this? I was thinking battery first, then the starter and alternator, check for places where there could be a short, what else? I'm really hoping I didn't fry the ECU trying to jump it.

 

Out of everyone, pohljim was right. The two had nothing to do with each other, just both happened at the same time. Bought a new alternator and battery after having them tested, car works great now. Now about that PS pump rebuild, how hard is it?

 

not that hard, but if you dont wanna do it yourself, hit me up. I can do the power steering pump rebuild and also if you need help changing out the window motor i can do that too

 

Don't be surprised if the problem shows up again. There was a short. It could have been the battery itself but not likely. I would be trying to find what got hot and started smoking.

 

I think the smoking was PS fluid dripping on the engine block. Checked all over the area for burned wires/hoses/anything else, I couldn't find or smell anything. Residue from the fluid EVERYWHERE under the pump though. Gonna pick up a rebuild kit this weekend and dig into that soon.

 

good luck

 

I know this has been 9 years ....but any update on this?

I'm having a similar issue. Replaced the steering pump....still leaking....and car now won't start randomly.

 

Correlation/causation issue.. sounds like you might just have an issue with the battery or a parasitic draw. what do you mean by randomly though, care to elaborate a bit

 

PS Fluid leaked in my MDX from the lower hose on the fluid container, ruined the alternator over the course of a few weeks. SO was driving from work one day and the MDX was dead. Very low voltage from battery, and a jump would lead to smoking from the alternator.

Other than that there really wasn't anything to cause the failure; it was about 1 year old from rockauto; factory denso lasted 12 years. Got new hoses for the PS fluid container and have been good to go!