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I have never had a problem with my power steering pump until now! I did some major repairs to the car (1.7l 2001 civic) and actually ended up parking it for the winter 🙁 .. No noises the day I parked the car. But last weekend when I started it up I noticed a whining sound coming from the power steering pump.
Its been parked for almost 3 months and never started; just a coincidence that the pump just decided to fail on me?… Has anyone had this problem storing their car for long period of time or just my bad luck that she went.
…just a note: the repairs done to the car had nothing to do with the steering components so nothing was disturbed there.
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I would think it’s bad luck unless mebbe some water got in there, and I can’t even imagine how that would happen. Was it stored indoors? If it was a Ford, I would just tell you it was a maintenance item, and I’m a Ford guy.
On a side note, I’m guessing you made sure the reservoir was filled properly, correct? Just gotta ask.
reservoir is at the full line. No visible leaks. Belt is barely a year old. My first thought was a bearing in the pump. To answer other question:Was it stored indoors?……………… I hate to answer this but it is for the time being stored outside. I am looking around town for a garage to put it. believe me I don’t like the fact that its not indoors.
Alright then. By the way thanks for responding so quick. I’ll have a look at it again this week to double check. If so I will let you know if that helped me out any. Just it seemed weird that it worked perfect before I parked it. Though that might have contributed to it.. maybe not. thanks again.
try warming the car up and taking it for a drive. the fluid might be cold. look in the reservoir for a silver looking color. if you see that then your rack has a
problem. try changing the fluid. also I don’t know what major work was done but make sure nothing is pinched. good luck.Ok so the noise somewhat went away after the engine warmed up today. I found out that I do have a leak after all. Air is entering the power steering pump through the inlet joint O-ring. Had buddy turn the wheel so I could check everything. Bubbles showed up in the reserve. I must have over looked it thinking a hose or rack was leaking. Going to replace it this week. Also fluid is really dark.. going to do a flush. Hopefully thats all. Thanks guys
MAKE SURE YOU USE HONDA FLUID ONLY, if not you could damage the system. Also know that even after you flush and fill the system it may take some time for all the air to bleed out. I normally start by filling the system and turning the wheel from lock to lock several times to circulate all the fluid, I then shut the car off and let it sit for some time before coming back and topping off the fluid, once that is done start the engine and listen for noise again, if you still have some turn the wheel from lock to lock several times again and once again let it sit. Normally I don’t have to do this more than twice to get all the air out, if you do then you may still have an air leak or POSSIBLY a problem with the pump and yes it is possible to get the belt so tight that it damages the front bearing on the pump itself.
Thank you everyone for your help. Sorry I’ve taken so long to get back. Holidays! So I have done everything and everything checks out good! And Yes I did use only Honda fluid. No more leaks and pump is very happy with new fluid. Thanks Eric for that point on the belt being too tight; that it could cause damage to the bearing. Don’t always think of the little things which cause more problems later, cause it was ‘very’ tight.
On to the next project!
Hi there, read this post and have some questions to add.
My situation is I had a noise from the engine bay, sounded like an alternator bearing so removed and seemed fine. Popped the alternator back in to see if I could trace the noise better and found the steering pump to be noisy. Unfortunately I got all excited and removed the pump as I could see oil everywhere from the pump, back towards the front suspension and wheel arch liner. The issue is, I expected the pump to sound horrible when spinning it by hand, but it doesn’t it sounds nice and smooth. The reservoir was badly stained so looked at the right level but obviously wasn’t as there was only a small amount of fluid in there, i mean egg cup sized small amount.
Could I be lucky and just have a leaking union on the high pressure side of the pump which was causing the pump to pump air resulting in this noise? Or am I just not able to spin the pump fast enough by hand to hear the noise when the pump isn’t under load. Just a side note, there is no end float on the pulley and all seems good. I just wish I had cleaned everything down and topped off the fluid to isolate the leak before I started getting too excited and pulling the whole thing off!
I am in the predicament where I need the car running again as my girlfriend needs hers back, I don’t have the time to throw at it but also don’t want to throw money at it if its a cheap fix. What to do???? By the way feel free to point and laugh at my stupidity of pulling the pump off to fast before proving the fault!
Hi there, read this post and have some questions to add.
My situation is I had a noise from the engine bay, sounded like an alternator bearing so removed and seemed fine. Popped the alternator back in to see if I could trace the noise better and found the steering pump to be noisy. Unfortunately I got all excited and removed the pump as I could see oil everywhere from the pump, back towards the front suspension and wheel arch liner. The issue is, I expected the pump to sound horrible when spinning it by hand, but it doesn’t it sounds nice and smooth. The reservoir was badly stained so looked at the right level but obviously wasn’t as there was only a small amount of fluid in there, i mean egg cup sized small amount.
Could I be lucky and just have a leaking union on the high pressure side of the pump which was causing the pump to pump air resulting in this noise? Or am I just not able to spin the pump fast enough by hand to hear the noise when the pump isn’t under load. Just a side note, there is no end float on the pulley and all seems good. I just wish I had cleaned everything down and topped off the fluid to isolate the leak before I started getting too excited and pulling the whole thing off!
I am in the predicament where I need the car running again as my girlfriend needs hers back, I don’t have the time to throw at it but also don’t want to throw money at it if its a cheap fix. What to do???? By the way feel free to point and laugh at my stupidity of pulling the pump off to fast before proving the fault!
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