Bought a slightly used 2008 Dodge Avenger SE (2.4L) with just 21,500 miles and it has now 28,580 miles. I Love this car except it tends to have a very noisy power steering pump, especially when you are slowing down the car into a side street or driveway.

Is this characteristics of this model with the 2.4L Engine?

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum guapoman.

My niece has an 09 2.4L and it is not noisy at all. I would have it checked under warranty.
I assume that the fluid is at the correct level?

 

Thank you for the reply and today I took my 2008 Dodge Avenger SE to Greenway Ford, Jeep, Dodge in East Orlando, Florida and they indeed found a Technical Service Bulletin by the number 19-002-08.

I had the cashier make me a copy of it and it states that it is dated October 11, 2008 and the subject is for Power Steering Honk, Moan, or Grinding sound on Left Turns.

It provides the dealer to replace the power steering reservoir with a "REVISED" (Taller) reservoir and Bleeding the Power Steering System.

Models affected: 2009 Journey, 2007 - 2009 Sebring/Avenger/Sebring Convertible.

Affected dates is coded as "JC" which are vehicles built prior to September 3, 2008 (MDH 0903XX) "or" "JC" vehcies built prior to January 29, 2009 (MDH 0129XX).

PARTS REQUIRED: P/N: 05151028AA (Reservoir, Power Steering)

SPECIAL TOOLS: C-4207A (Hand Vacuum Pump or equivalent)
9688 or 9688A (Power Steering Cap Adapter)

REPAIR PROCEDURE:
1. using the procedures outlined in Dealer writeup, replace the power steering reservoir with the revised (Taller) reservoir P/N: 05151028AA.
2. Refer to the detailed power steering system fill and bleed procedures available in Dealer service info # 19 - Steering Standard Procedure.

TIME ALLOWANCE: (0.5 hours)
Labor Operation No: 19-70-55-90
Reservoir, Pump, Replace

================================================== =
Hope this helps anyone with this same automobile!!!

Carlos

 

Good info. Thanks for posting.

 

Lxman1 and others....

After Turkey Day (Thanksgiving), I had to take my 2008 Dodge Avenger SE back to the Dealer as after driving it for several hours after I left the Dealer on Wednesday a loud Growning sound still was present after making a Left Turn with slight Power applied (Gas Pedle).

I called the Service Representative on Wednesday and he told me to come on in Friday morning and so, I did and let me tell you.....

Service was A-1 as they allowed me to take their Technician for a ride and he heard the noise and after about 35 minutes after coming from the test drive they finally took care of the noise by flushing out the entire Power Steering System and most importantly, Bleeding out the system for Air Bubbles.

My Avenger drives PERFECT and the only thing you hear is the Engine!

Greenway Ford, Dodge, Jeep (Dodge Service) is just amazing! They have a very good short order cook for all kind of meals as well at very resonable prices!

Thanks for your time and attention!
Carlos

 

Good deal. It's good to hear you got quality service!!! My dealer Commonwealth Dodge, here in Louisville has always treated me great. They are in the top 100 in sales and they only sell Dodge (no jeep or Chrysler). They must be good!!

 

I have my 2008 avenger in the driveway - feb 2 - Idaho. Knucklebusting nightmare.

the dodge house said it was the alternator making the horrifcly loud noises when the car was running.
240.00 alternator is sitting beside the car - after 4 hours of working on the car i got the alternator out (You would not believe how tight they put them in these things! and I am really big w/ big giant hands.)
pulled the alt - NO NOISE can be heard haand spinning this thing. we even used a scope, they said it was definetly the alt. I am thinking not!

pulled the power steering pump <-- had to to get the alt out. it has play in the shaft - bout 1/4 inch travel straight in and out. Never had any problems steering though and the noise is constant except for it seems to change tones as the rpms go up and down.
spinning the a/c clutch seems to have a slight whirring sond, I believe they do that though. not sure.

all the pulleys seem to spin fine. I am about at my wits end here. this is a nightmare.
what could be making this loud sound when the engines running?

I can still take the alternator back if it's something else.

 

well i have heard this issue on most of dodge models. nothing new.

 

Guess what - wasn't the power steering pump at all.

it was that crappy alternator! yeah - it was working - no test detected it being bad - but in 2007 in this 2.4L engine and the 1.8L they used a weird alternator pulley - it has some kind of bogus bearing system in it - sealed up in there. the pulley alone costs about 85 bucks on eBay.

best to just get a new alternator though. guess what they cost! 240.00 for a stinking alternator! Yeah... and I had to figure out what it was on my own. the dodge house didn't even know. they wanted almost 1,000.00 to replace it out of warranty. 54K on this car.

it really is a bummer to replace the alternator - doing it in the driveway in january with the north winds blowing in your crack doesn't help either - you have to remove two pulley's and the power steering pump , unbolt the winshield washer tank - take the passenger side wheel off - unbolt the wheel well plastics ( Two of them ) - good luck getting that last screw behind the A/C condensers!

also - there is no belt route pattern under the hood so you best plot that out before you take that belt off.

The only way to be sure of where the noise was coming from is to spin that pulley outside of the car, i tried to get autozone to test it for e but they said the alternator model was too new and they did not have a plug for it, so I just opened my VW beetle engine lid and jammed it into the spinning belt - WA LAA! it started to get off balance when it hit a certain RPM and got way worse when RPMs increased. to teh point where the alternator was getting hit by the pulley. the center shaft was wobbling causing a whirring sound and the contact the pulley was making with the body of the alternator was clanking super fast causing the diesel engine sound.

I have no doubt this will fail again, it seems to be designed to fail, i made sure to buy a lifetime warranty alternator.

I have seen this problem posted NOWHERE online at all. yet the Dodge house said its Common. spread the word if you like. i am glad I am done with is problem. LOL

 

The only time my steering made noise on my Avenger is when the hose blew in the cold last winter. Same problem with my 03 Ram, busted return hose in the cold.
I had a bad seal on the same pump and replaced it with a used pump which was noisy from day one... until, by coincidence my belt was failing and skipped a groove on the steering pulley and voila! Noise gone, pulley not aligned with the others. I thought the pump would have been a bolt in thing with no adjustment. Lined up the pulley, problem solved.
Now my AC compressor has a bad clutch rotor bearing and it seems that only the dealer carries these for $400... but that's another story.