2014 Acura TSX, 4 Cylinder, AT, 150k miles
I noticed a knocking sound when turning the steering wheel a few degrees in one direction, and then turning it in the other direction, while driving the car. I got the car up in the air. Without taking apart anything I grabbed hold of one of the front tires at the 3 and 9 o clock position, and begin to rotate the tire and heard a loud knocking sound. Thinking that it was just the wheel lock, I put the key in the accessory position, car on but engine off. I then repeated the turning of the tire but heard a loud grinding sound. This was repeatable on both sides of the car. I took the tires off, and then took the outer tie rod out of one of the knuckles. I rotated the respective knuckle without the tie rod in it, and there was no grinding sound, just a slight sound from slop in the axle. This was repeatable on the other side. The sound still existed, with both tie rods out of the knuckles, car on and engine off. This is the grinding sound when someone else is turning the steering wheel with neither of the tie rods in a knuckle, with myself on the ground. You’ll notice a wet spot on the rack and pinon on one of the sides, but this is a EPS, so there’s no fluid (I believe). Would like a tale tale sign of a power steering leak in a non electrical one. I believe the wet spot from an old transmission axle seal leak, that I fixed a few months back.
Any ideas what this could be? I take it the rack and pinion is likely bad? If so, I wonder if it’s possible to only replace like a certain part of it, without taking the whole thing out of the car, like maybe just the motor.
Thanks for any help or suggestions on diagnosing this.
I suppose I could try pulling the bellows/boots off of the rack and trying to add grease, but I thought it’s not part of regular maintenance and not sure if it would help?
