8th Gen Honda Accord Whining

[Seth]

I recently purchased a 2011 Honda Accord with only 16k miles from a family member for a fantastic deal. The car feels amazing but it has some minor cosmetic damage and a few mechanical annoyances. My first and main concern is a whining noise coming from under the hood. I will address the other issues in future posts if I cannot resolve them myself. I have read on other forums that a slight whining is normal for 8th Gen Accords, but I wanted to see if anyone else has this experience. At first, it sounded like transmission noise. Upon further inspection, I’m hearing a faint, but distinct whining noise coming from the power steering pump. It’s worse when the car is cold, but it doesn’t completely go away after the car warms up. Is power steering noise common on these models? I was going to start with replacing the o-ring on the return line (even though this generation wasn’t affected like the 7th gen was, at least to my understanding) and flush the fluid with 4 bottles of Honda OEM stuff. I just wanted to inquire before I move forward with this service. Any thoughts, comments, and recommendations are always appreciated.

Topic