Hello all, I am new to the community and appreciate all of your valuable feedback. I own a 2011 EX-L 4-Cyl with about 90k miles and have been experiencing a whining noise lately, mostly during turns. I was at the dealership for an oil change and asked them to diagnose it, and they returned saying I need a new power steering pump and it will cost $525. There was no mention of a leak or anything, they just simply said its going bad and will fail soon. I feel like its too early to be experiencing this issue, but can anybody corroborate this sounding reasonable? I have been going to this "award winning" dealer since I bought the car from them, but I must say there have been times when I did not trust the recommendations from the service department and felt they were trying to sell things I don't need. Perhaps there is an easier solution to try first?

 

You stated no leaks; but, is the power steering level okay?

Do you see bubbles in the fluid? Can be air in the system.

You can try a relatively inexpensive and easy fix, similar to this service bulletin by replacing the inlet joint o-ring to see if it makes a difference.

 

I call B.S. on a new P.S. pump, put an O-ring in at the pump on the return line and be done with it. 3 bucks vs. 525....HA!

 

And if it turns out the O-ring didn't fix it, and you actually need a new pump, you haven't hurt anything by trying the O-ring first.