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Good luck, manual man. Hopefully this will be an easy swap for you!!
Power Steering Pump. RIP @ 184k
Have noticed the ps pump is pretty growly for the last few weeks, but the level was OK and I did a single reservoir tank drain/fill with new Honda fluid to no change. Today we got home from a trip and I found that the fluid had frothed up so badly it had spewed out the top of the reservoir. Uh oh and yuck, what a mess.
Drained and filled again with clean stuff and upon restart, the pump was VERY noisy. Sounded like a bearing going bad in there or something, even after a turn/turn to try to purge air. Not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure it's toast. Not bad since I've towed probably 20,000 miles and never upped the stock ps cooler to tow spec....
D
Pulling the old pump was surprisingly easy. Looks like most parts places sell reman units and the best local price I found was Advance Auto for $107. Rock Auto was best at $82 + core and shipping, but I need it now. Will report back after I install tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I'm not too grumpy since I was afraid those funny noises might be impending tranny doom!
Drained and filled again with clean stuff and upon restart, the pump was VERY noisy. Sounded like a bearing going bad in there or something, even after a turn/turn to try to purge air. Not sure what happened, but I'm pretty sure it's toast. Not bad since I've towed probably 20,000 miles and never upped the stock ps cooler to tow spec....
DPulling the old pump was surprisingly easy. Looks like most parts places sell reman units and the best local price I found was Advance Auto for $107. Rock Auto was best at $82 + core and shipping, but I need it now. Will report back after I install tomorrow. Wish me luck!
I'm not too grumpy since I was afraid those funny noises might be impending tranny doom!
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Done. This was one of the few repairs beyond total basic maintenance where the Haynes manual was 100% useful. nice pictures, good labels, good advice (though they should have been more clear about using Honda spec ps fluid).
The only quibble is that if the belt is in good shape, there is no need to "remove it" fully (which involves removing the serp belt as well). Just loosen the ps pump tensioner, remove the ps pump pulley and set the belt aside while working. They also didn't mention replacing the hose connector O-rings, but since the pump came with new ones, it wasn't brain surgery to figure out what they were for.
I was lucky to find a pump at Advance same day. Pretty much all aftermarket parts are reman jobs. I used my Mightvac to suck as much old fluid out of the system and bleed clean fluid in before installing the new pump. I used 4 - 12oz bottles total of Honda spec ps fluid by 'Coastal' from Advance Auto. (only 1 bottle with the vac, then install, fill, run, drain reservoir and repeat 3 times) Old fluid was REALLY bad. I'm going to be smelling that on my hands for a week. By the last fill, the fluid stench was finally gone and the fluid looked nice and clean.
New one is in, growl is gone and now I can hear my transmission whine clearly again! Good for another 184k miles...
The ps belt tensioner was set WAY too tight when I disassembled. Probably been that way since the dealer did my timing belt at 95k miles. Wonder if that played a role in the failure? Easy to check if you're in there doing other maintenance. Nobody cares for your cars like you do...
The only quibble is that if the belt is in good shape, there is no need to "remove it" fully (which involves removing the serp belt as well). Just loosen the ps pump tensioner, remove the ps pump pulley and set the belt aside while working. They also didn't mention replacing the hose connector O-rings, but since the pump came with new ones, it wasn't brain surgery to figure out what they were for.
I was lucky to find a pump at Advance same day. Pretty much all aftermarket parts are reman jobs. I used my Mightvac to suck as much old fluid out of the system and bleed clean fluid in before installing the new pump. I used 4 - 12oz bottles total of Honda spec ps fluid by 'Coastal' from Advance Auto. (only 1 bottle with the vac, then install, fill, run, drain reservoir and repeat 3 times) Old fluid was REALLY bad. I'm going to be smelling that on my hands for a week. By the last fill, the fluid stench was finally gone and the fluid looked nice and clean.
New one is in, growl is gone and now I can hear my transmission whine clearly again! Good for another 184k miles...
The ps belt tensioner was set WAY too tight when I disassembled. Probably been that way since the dealer did my timing belt at 95k miles. Wonder if that played a role in the failure? Easy to check if you're in there doing other maintenance. Nobody cares for your cars like you do...
I just replaced the original P.S. pump in my 2004 yesterday after 147K miles. It exhibited the same buzzing sound even after I replaced all the O-rings. So I bought a re-manufactured pump from Auto Zone for $108 and installed. I don't like the generous use of black paint on all the pump surfaces; they even painted the bearing. It sure made a racket while bleeding the air from the system.
If anybody goes this route, be advised you have to remove the pulley and the inlet elbow fitting from your pump before parting with it as a core.
If anybody goes this route, be advised you have to remove the pulley and the inlet elbow fitting from your pump before parting with it as a core.
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