lojik

Hey Acura Fam,

I need some diagnosing help. About a year ago I replaced my Rack and Pinion. It ran a few days with little to no fluid due to a massive leak at that time, I worried then that i may have done damage to the powers steering pump but everything appeared fine until about 20k to 25k miles later when it was clear I was leaking something. It took a while for me to catch up to the leaking but when i finally did I noticed another horrible symptom, my power steering went out completely for a few seconds as I was going onto the freeway on a big curve. It was kind of scary really so I immediately went to my mechanic to check out my rack and pinion which are still barely under warranty thinking it had started to fail again and wanted to get it covered of course. I was notified that the rack was fine and there was no leak from there. A boot was torn and they replaced it but said my PS Pump was leaking actually as well as a couple other seals on a cap and a sensor on the motor. All were fixed including the pump. Thing was my pump didn't feel fully fixed, made a bit of noise after still and felt not smooth i guess is the way to put it, jumpy even. That was last Wednesday when all that was done, then today after knowing my pump is not quite right something else happens, I'm backing out of my driveway this morning and again my power steering goes out for a bit and i have to stop as my driveway requires slick maneuvering. I change gears and try again and sure enough power steering did return. I was shocked as that was a symptom from before I had my pump replaced and now seeing it again after the repair has me scratching my head. Later in the evening it did it again twice in a later drive so now its back to the mechanic. The problem is I don't want to just start fixing random stuff until it goes away. If I have no leak and my pump is now replaced, can my rack and pinion still be bad with no leaks? Did i just get a bad pump? Is it something else now like the steering column or something similar? I don't ever remember in past power steering issues on previous cars ever where the Steering would just go out completely with full fluid in the system and then return completely. It seems weird and new to me. Does anyone have any ideas on what i'm dealing with here? My tranny is going bad but not yet and the power steering came back one of the times after changing gears around, seems far fetched but could a failing tranny cause the steering to essentially disappear for a little or even affect it at all? Anyway, thank you all in advance.

TexasHonda

Is PS fluid level good? If OK, then air may be intermittently getting pulled into the PS fluid on the suction side. When air enters PS fluid, the steering boost will be reduced or lost until air purges out at reservoir. Occasionally, PS fluid will overrun reservoir top due to foaming of PS fluid.

The most frequent cause of air in PS fluid is a leaking oring on the suction inlet fitting to the PS pump. Easy, cheap fix. However, damaged suction hose, low PS fluid level, blocked PS reservoir screen can also cause air in PS fluid.

good luck

lojik

@TexasHonda Thank you for the info, it helped me get a better picture of what i was dealing with and what it potentially might be. I went and got the PS Pump changed out and it looks like the Rack and Pinion is next (under warranty hopefully) but that is Friday, in the meantime i will see how the new pump reacts. It took a few minutes after leaving for the Steering to come back completely and at this point it feels a better but they recommended still changing the Rack. I just didn't want to not know what it could be and then possibly be up-sold. This morning on my way to the mechanic the steering was non existent the whole way until I arrived and turned the car back on, it came back for a short time before being gone completely again. Thats why they decided right away the pump had to be re-replaced. Again Thank you and best wished to you.