Power steering pump or fluid leak on the 2005 Honda Odyssey
When power steering pump or fluid leak gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Honda Odyssey report power steering pump or fluid leak at a median of 50,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 26 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 100,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 22,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 72,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
15% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22,500 miles | 36,438 miles | 49,000 miles | 69,000 miles | 94,500 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $350–$1,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2010, at a median of 25,000 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 50,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 40; the 2005 has 32. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Power steering pump replaced. Power steering pump replacement did not solve the problem. Power steering pump still making noise. Dealer does not know how to solve problem. *jb
Noise when making a turn. Dealer said that the power steering pump needs to be replaced. Van is only 2 years old. It seems that the power steering pump should last a lot longer that. Dealer said it is not covered by warranty. *jb
Tl*the contact owns a 2005 honda odyssey. The contact experienced difficulty turning the steering wheel and took her vehicle to the dealer. The diagnosis was that the power steering pump failed. The pump was replaced at the dealer's expense. The failure recurred and the vehicle was taken back to the dealer. They stated that the steering wheel suspension needed to be replaced. The current mileage was 68,000 and failure mileage was 15,000.
Also reported on the 2005 Honda Odyssey
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Air conditioning failure
Other brake problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 32 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does power steering pump or fluid leak happen on the 2005 Honda Odyssey?
Across 26 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 50,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 37,500 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is power steering pump or fluid leak on the 2005 Honda Odyssey?
32 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed