A slow but constant leak from deteriorating power steering pump seals ended up being difficult to diagnose but fairly simple to rectify.

I bought my TL from its original owner with an advisory about a failing axle boot spewing grease onto the exhaust, causing an intermittent burning smell and occasional smoke. While the passenger side axle is known to be problematic, it turns out that the power steering pump was leaking fluid such that it flowed behind the timing belt cover, down the entire engine, and spread out across the axle, exhaust, frame rail, lower suspension, and oil pan. This had been happening for well over a year before I bought the car.

I removed the power steering pump and disassembled it to determine whether I needed a new pump due to a catastrophic internal failure, or new seals to replace the brittle original ones. Since the metal components all seemed to be in good condition I ordered a new set of seals from NAPA and a new shaft bearing from "acurapartswarehouse" for good measure. It took about 15 minutes to remove the power steering pump and about 30 minutes to rebuild it. The gasket kit and bearing cost $45 total. A few quarts of Honda power steering fluid was another $20 or so from Amazon.

The power steering system in this car is known to fail in ways unbefitting of an otherwise overwhelmingly reliable vehicle. If you own or are looking to buy a TL, know that this system requires proactive preventative maintenance, inspections, and fluid changes.

In my own vehicle, along with having to replace the power steering feed hose due to a previous recall, I have also had to have the power steering pump gasket replaced and have been told the power steering rack needed replacement.

Previous post from - Baltimore, MD, USA : "The seals inside must be slowly roasting on every daily commute the system endures with the super hot ps fluid. Over time the rubber is going to warp and deform, breaking the seal in the system, thus negating its sole purpose of holding any ps fluid altogether. Acura must have become aware of this as a problem. However, only made a revision on the type-S. If you look at the parts website, you'll see how the type-S had integrated a ps fluid cooler into their system:" I believe Acura knows their design was faulty and knew there would be a very large number of failures and did nothing.